The film is based on the early autobiographical stories of Vasily Makarovich Shukshin. A bright, emotionally rich movie about the childhood of a boy from a distant Altai village, about his family — his sister and mother, about work, holidays, joys and troubles of ordinary Russian peasants during the Great Patriotic War...

The film tells about the childhood and youth of the wife, friend and military ally of the founder of the country of the Soviets Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. The main attention in the film is paid to the participation of a young revolutionary in the organization of the struggle of the workers of St. Petersburg for their rights, against the autocracy.

On their way to a Black Sea resort, a Siberian tractor driver and his wife make new friends and take a detour to Moscow.