A story about the famous Russian weightlifter Ivan Zaikin, who left the circus arena at the peak of his fame to dedicate himself to the art of aviation.

The scientist Levandowski was once unfairly excluded from scientific activity. But he still returns to the institute, creates a new laboratory and, together with his students, turns to a project that he has been hatching for many years...

This story is about the events of the beginning of the century, the circus, in which the favorite of the troupe Alesha grew up. After the mother - acrobat Maria-Louise died, his childhood was over. Revolutionary events influenced the fate of a small circus - and the boy was left alone. But when in his life appeared Bolshevik Stepan Ratushny, Alyosha again began to perform in the circus.

Struggling with financial loss, a poet receives a shagreen leather from an antiquities shop, fulfilling his wishes

The 20s. Stepan Khomutov returns to the Kuban village of Talitsy from the front of the Civil War and decides to organize a commune in the former princely manor. The peasants, fearing both bandits and communards, wait for the outcome of the struggle. In this difficult situation, the former farmhand Alyona, the wife of a rich man, fell in love with the farmhand Ignatka, who by the weakness of his character joined the bandits and received the task to burn the village...

In search of real life 15-year-old Vaska goes to the Arctic, where he gets a job on a marine rescue tug "Cola". It is not easy to build a relationship with the naive kid crew — "sea wolves". Once the team receives a task — to tow the ship "Polotsk" broken during the war from the New Earth»…

A young Jewish woman, having received an order from the occupation authorities to report to the assembly point, goes into town with her son. They approach the ghetto, but realizing what awaits them, they leave. They wander around the city, not daring to visit their friends. Night falls. Huddled together, mother and son fall asleep on a bench. And in the morning, soldiers indifferently throw their frozen bodies into the back of a truck.

A student and chess lover Andrey Popov, while getting sick the night before a chess game with a chess world champion Karpov, falls asleep and is having a dream. In this dream, he finds himself in a kingdom ruled by chess figures and playing cards. Chess figures (who are in power) are in a state of sadness due to a misterious disease that struck their young prince. While Andrey attempts to help them, the cards are preparing a coup...