The clockmaker practices what is known as \"parental rights\" – he mercilessly beats his son Boris for every misdemeanor. The boy grows up intimidated, angry, trusting no one, and befriending no one. One day, while the students at the polytechnic school where Boris studies are busy with a physical education class, he deliberately destroys a model that the students have worked so hard to build. The teacher prevents a cruel punishment of the culprit. The school community takes on the responsibility of re-educating Boris. Considered lost.

A diamond smuggling operation goes wrong when an ordinary Soviet citizen becomes unwittingly involved, and the criminals are forced to court him to retrieve their diamonds.

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

A former aristocrat Ippolit Vorobyaninov leads a miserable life in Soviet Russia. His mother-in-law reveals a secret to him - she hid family diamonds in one of the twelve chairs they once had. Vorobyaninov in cooperation with a young con artist Ostap Bender start a long search for the diamonds.

David Motuzka, demobilized Red Army soldier, returns to his native village, hoping to see the changes caused by the revolutionary events. But he cannot see no improvement. The village is ruled by the kulaks and David's childhood friend Kornii Matiukha helps them.