The alien ship in the rays of the evening sun seemed like a cloud, devoid of clear shapes, iridescent and completely safe. At that moment, Marya Stepanovna, her daughter Leocadia and granddaughter Sashenka, who was sick with a sore throat and was capricious, were in the house. Semensky, Leocadia's husband, has not yet returned from work. A cloud hung over the house for several minutes, suddenly fell on it, enveloped the house like fog, then rose again, picking up speed until it mixed with other clouds and clouds. The house has disappeared...

By chance, Kuzma Lichikov, a resident of the fairy-tale town of Veliky Guslar, found himself in a cave where a sleeping princess lay. She awoke from Kuzma's kiss and fell in love with the hero. Love awakened Lichikov's talent as a woodcarver, and he decorated the forest glade where he settled with the princess in a hut with amusing figures. Batyev, the "head of city culture," took an interest in his work. Deciding to use the craftsman and his fairy-tale glade for mass events, he promised to give Lichikov and the princess a separate apartment in return. Lichikov, having received the position, quickly became bureaucratic, and in a fit of official zeal, he did not notice how love disappeared from his life...