After an accident at the work place, Lachezar Bareleff looses his time and nerves, circling through counters of public institutions to seek financial help.

Elena Nikolaevna Stakhova, a girl from a noble family, is full of lofty ideals. Seeking “active good” and heroism and not finding the use of her powers in her environment, she falls in love with the Bulgarian student Insarov, a poor commoner democrat. Elena completely devotes herself to her chosen one and follows him along his difficult path. After the wedding, the young people decide to leave for Bulgaria, where the struggle for freedom has been going on for 400 years. But, never having reached his homeland, Insarov dies...

The wars of 1912-1913 pass as a distant echo in Dozhden, a small village in the Rhodopes. Overwhelmed by a dream to fly, the young shepherd Sirachko, the son of a skilled craftsman, set about building an aircraft.

A social and psychological study of contemporary problems.