Nikolay Fomich Ferapontov is a muralist and "classic of socialist realism", who lived a life far from sinless. However, all success has remained in the distant past, and in his old age he has to make ends meet, interrupting by random orders. Everything changes when a young art critic Myasoedov appears on his doorstep and finds paintings in the back room, in which he unexpectedly recognizes masterpieces of fine art. Not really imagining the real origin of the paintings, Nikolay Fomich calls himself their author, and from that moment the hunt for money and fame begins.

The rat lives in a cage that stands in the room of a large communal apartment in which the poet lives. The apartment is in the house; House - in the yard-well; The courtyard is in the city; And in the courtyard - 1939 ...In the film there are many newsreel frames of those times, the sound series contains both popular and propagandist songs, both Soviet and German. The plot is divided into many unrelated episodes, which are colorized in different colors. The author claims that everything shown should be understood outside of symbolism: everything in the film means only itself.