Artemy Zagoruiko and his friends Lyasya, the Negro Pepo and Kostya, familiar to the audience from the movie "The Magic Circle", but already grown up, find themselves in the thick of revolutionary events.

In the old days it was called hypochrondria, or black melancholia. Now, apparently, it's termed the Asthenic Syndrome. Whatever it is, Nikolai, a teacher of epicly indifferent pupils, has got it, and it's not much fun.