Based on the novel of the same name by Daniil Granin. Engineer Chizhegov often travels on business to a small town, where he meets a woman who reciprocates his feelings. The protagonist faces a difficult problem: he is married, and his family lives in Leningrad. Unable to make a final decision and afraid of losing his beloved, he commits a despicable act. His remorse comes too late—Chizhegov loses the woman who was truly dear to him forever.

Isaac Berg is the only Jew in a small town who miraculously survived during the german occupation. The old man is haunted by one idea - he decided to raise the gravestones with which the nazis paved the road and take them to where his loved ones were killed.