Events take place in the White Sea, 1942. New recruit Andrei Bulygin is assigned as an assistant machine gunner on a small ship that delivers soldiers and weapons to the front line. On the way back, German fighters sink the ship, leaving only Andrei alive. Having got out on the ice, he enters into an unequal battle with the cold and the German pilot von Bettger attacking him from the air...

A locker room janitor at the train station notices that a suitcase was put in a locker by a man, but pulled out by another man. This suitcase appeared to be stuffed with money. This incident allows a police detective to uncover a huge criminal organization responsible for theft, smuggling and murder.

The sculptor lives as a hermit in the country, drinking vodka with a local cheerful drunkard and "sealing plaster piglets" for his wife, who sells these products on the Old Arbat. A friend sends him a rubber woman from Italy who miraculously assumes the appearance of a living woman. He buys outfits for the "doll", paints portraits of her, and life becomes joyful for him. Happiness, however, was broken by the drunkard who stole a doll with dirty intentions.