The story of a father - a hero of the Civil War, a general of the Patriotic War and his son, frivolous and absent-minded in the civilian life, but who took over his father's 'baton' in the 'hard times'. General Rybakov's son Ivan, confident that his father's name will protect him from trouble, commits a number of disreputable acts. Between father and son there is a decisive explanation, as a result of which Ivan leaves home. During the Great Patriotic War, the Rybakovs meet again. The severely wounded general, dying, bequeaths his weapon to his son.

The action takes place in 1714 in the London royal palace of St. James. The Duchess of Marlborough, the favorite of the weak-willed queen, skillfully rules the state. Her political opponent, former minister Lord Bolingbroke, dreaming of restoring his influence at court, successfully wages a cunning war against the duchess, using the rivalry between the queen and the duchess of Marlborough, who are in love with the young officer Mesham.

In the boarding house of Wanda Ogrodskaya and her younger sister Anna, live the rich widow Sophia Parmen with her governess Yanina and the young lawyer Pyotr Bukovich, with whom all the women of the house are in love. Mrs. Sophia invites the lawyer to marry her, but is refused - Peter loves the dowry-free Anna. In revenge, Sophia gives a rich dowry to her governess, and Peter marries Yanina.

Russian Empire, the middle of the XIX century. Aged, beggar dramatic actor Lev Gurych Sinichkin, in search of work, wanders through the cities with his young daughter Liza. They dream that Lisa someday will succeed on stage and become a famous actress.

The son of an obstinate mayor cannot get his father's consent to wed the beautiful Hanna. He receives unexpected assistance from evil, mysterious forces – Satan, witches, and rusalki – who work together to bring the couple happiness, bringing mayhem and celebration.

For the third year, the expedition has been searching for the causative agent of an infectious disease rampant in the Ussuri taiga, where a major construction project is about to begin. Meanwhile, the enemy seeks to destroy the fruits of years of labor of Soviet microbiologists. Young scientist Vasily Zheludev exposes a master saboteur and forces him to flee into the taiga.

Hearing about the revolution in the hospital, the sailor Gulyavin goes to Petrograd, and from there with a detachment of Ukrainian volunteers he is sent to Ukraine. The troop is joined by cavalrymen under the command of the anarchist Lelka. The chief of staff, Stroyev, reproaches Gulyavin with negligence - you cannot take an untested detachment. However, the desperate courage of Lelka in battle with the White Guards gives Gulyavin not only respect for her, but love...

The nine-year-old Prague boy Pepiček flies to Moscow as an involuntary stowaway on an airplane. Together with the Soviet pioneer Mischa, he pursues an alleged agent in the hustle and bustle of the World Festival and is flown back to Prague in the evening.

A staging of the play of the same name at the State Academic Maly Theater of the USSR.

The film is dedicated to the great Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). It tells of the last twenty years of the great master’s life, of his friendship with Baroness von Meck, an outstanding woman of her time, who for many years was Tchaikovsky’s guardian angel. The film also includes retrospections of the composer’s childhood and adolescent years, with Tchaikovsky’s life poetically recounted against the background of fragments from his operas and ballets performed by the best Russian musicians.