Young Akbota goes to visit her grandmother in Alma Ata and brings her saplings of the sacred archie tree. On the way, she meets architect Murad, and then his wife, actress Sholpan...

1954. The first detachment of young virgin lands arrives in the remote Kazakh steppe. The old forester Bulanbai warns the guys about the difficulties, but the youth boldly gets to work. We have to fight not only with the harsh nature, but also with the inertia of the director of the trust of state farms Kuanysh Korkutov. Contrary to his instructions, the director of the Komsomolsky state farm Kudryash prefers to process heavy, but more promising land masses. The secretary of the regional committee Beisov supports Kudryash. Korkunov is being removed from office. Soon a new group of young people arrives at the state farm...