The film consists of three short stories: 'The Unhappy Matryonka', 'Brother Fedos' and 'Vanka-Cain'.

After losing his parents in the war, the boy ended up in an orphanage, from which he escaped and was taken in by a village teacher. Following in the footsteps of his tutor, Valya Kandaurov graduated from the Pedagogical Institute and began working in a rural school. And then a girl from the city where he was studying came to Vale and invited him to follow her. But neither his career nor the joys of a comfortable life brought him satisfaction and he returned to his homeland.

The movie intertwines the plot lines of the stories "In the Bathhouse", "Tears Invisible to the World", "A Conversation between a Man and a Dog" and others. By the will of the film's creators, the viewer gets to the rehearsals of an unusual choir and gets acquainted with the stories of the singers - diverse, but invariably amusing.

Based upon the famous novel by H.G.Wells. A poor scientist named Griffin discovers a way to make things invisible. Since he has no money to continue his research, he decides to perform his only experiment on himself. After becoming invisible, Griffin has a lot of trouble trying to conceal this from other people.

A Russian woman tells the tragic story of her life.

After the liberation of the Kuban by the Soviet Army troops, farmers return home and begin to restore the destroyed economy. Under the leadership of the young chairman, Nadiezdha Pritulyak, growers are working with great enthusiasm.

Peter the Great takes a Russian man of African heritage - Ibrahim Petrovich Hannibal - under his wing as the tsar builds his grand navy. After having a disastrous affair in France, Ibrahim vows to never fall in love again, until he sees the daughter of a wealthy boyar. Peter the Great insists the two be married, but Ibrahim goes against the tsar's wishes, refusing to force her to marry him since she doesn't consent. When another man tries to marry her, however, Ibrahim's loyalties and generous nature are put to the test.

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.

The protagonists of the film are construction workers. Though they differ in character, they are united by a shared passion for discovery, purity of intention, and emotional depth. Civil engineer Kidin, a creative soul, fights for a revision of the prefab housing plant project. Can a person truly be happy if they pursue only a narrowly defined personal happiness?