Having lived for his pleasure most of his life, floor polisher Ivan Karetnikov, on the threshold of his 60th birthday, did not for the first time leave his next wife himself, but she abandoned him, moreover, in public. In addition to these troubles, he was fired from his job, replaced by a mechanical polisher. In this difficult moment, Karetnikov remembered the first wife, and then the second and third. But turning to each of them, he seems to begin to lose hope of seeing compassion for himself.

Genka Zvyagin meets a blind boy, Vladik. This meeting becomes in many ways a turning point in the destinies of both. Also before the eyes of the audience are the life stories of other children, often instructive and tragic.

A.N. Ostrovsky recalls the first period of his creative work (1849–1859), when he began collaborating with the Maly Theatre and with masters of the Russian stage such as L.P. Kositskaya, M.S. Shchepkin, and P.M. Sadovsky. Almost every character in this film is a real historical figure.

Based on the short story by Yu. Shcherbak, ‘Harmonic Inspiration.’ The film’s characters meet at a concert in the Kyiv Philharmonic. That December evening, filled with Vivaldi’s astonishing music, becomes a part of each of the four people’s lives, helping them recall and understand their past.