The love story of the great Roman commander Anthony and the oriental beauty Cleopatra, the tragic suicide of both, is recreated.

Bolshevik Mravin, under the name of engineer Pyotr Ivanovich Lednev, risking his life, takes V.I. Lenin’s “Letter to the American Workers” to America. With the help of John Reed, he publishes it in one of the newspapers.

The Portrait of Dorian Gray had an amazing property: it took upon itself all the sins of the “original”, as well as the passage of time. In real life, Dorian Gray did not change, not a single wrinkle appeared on his face, but the portrait aged for him...

Two foolish and frivolous guys cause suffering for the whole youth union at the factory. It was already decided to dismiss Anatoly Grachkin and his friend Victor Gromoboev but they are taken under the wing by Nadia Berestova, a diminutive funny woman, known as the popular one at the plant. At first, Nadia took it with reluctance and apprehension, but gradually this commission became the most important thing in her life.

Major timber merchant Yegor Bulychyov is terminally ill. In his house, he is surrounded by insignificant and greedy people, impatiently waiting for his death. Clever and insightful Yegor understands that he lived his whole life with strangers. He protests in his own way against the dissimulation and hypocrisy of the "masters" - the clergy, liberals, against the foundations of the bourgeois society that is going to collapse. Bulychyov's dying curse drowns his class in the powerful sounds of a revolutionary song.

A young ordinary communist, Vasiliy Gubanov, was among many who took part in the construction of the most important facility for the young republic, the power plant. He did his job in a way that was beyond human ability. He could love, too, with a passion and a passion for self, but his life was cut short very early.

The end of the 1950s. The Chinese passenger plane, following the Beijing-Moscow flight, enters a thunderstorm and makes an emergency landing in the Baikal region. In addition to the Soviet citizen Varvara Komarova, all other passengers are foreigners. Using a stop, they explore new cities and get acquainted with the life, work and rest of Soviet people.

The main character, Anna Denisova, is a simple Russian woman, on whose shoulders all the hardships of wartime fell. Like all her compatriots, Annushka did everything in her power to bring Victory Day closer. In this war, she lost her husband, Pyotr, but managed to save the lives of her three children — Sasha, Nina and Granata. The trials of Annushka didn't end with the end of the war. In the first years of peace, all survivors had to survive the famine and spend their last strength on rebuilding the country.

About the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.

Having lost her parents during the war, Galya was brought up in an orphanage. When the grandfather was rehabilitated, they began to live together. Galya often called Alyosha to repair the phone. After walking around Moscow at night, they realized that they loved each other. Once, after another call, Aleksei was slandered. The boss, not wanting to delve into the essence of the client's complaint, invited Aleksei to apologize. The guy refused — and he was fired from his job. Friends helped him find another job, but he could not convince Galya that he was right. The girl reproached him for cowardice — and the heroes quarrelled...