Igor Lukshin

A middle-aged woman Ksenia (N. Yegorova) has a usual regular life: routine work in typography, home without husband, whom she has long divorced, 17-year old daughter with teenage problems, a friend, trying to give her in marriage. In short, nothing special. Though sometimes she sings in a local chorus for the good of her soul. But once a head of municipal folklore consort drops in, and they get into conversation, and he invites her to the run-through. She comes, tries her forces with the others, but for some reason she is not let to the concerts She gets acquainted with a nimble administrator, who gathers a concert group and proposes to go on tour. She agrees and changes her life dramatically.

Sergei Dolganov is a jack of all trades, a man of great soul and open heart. He wanders around weighing cities in search of happiness, and in all the cities where he visits, he builds fountains not for extra money, but only for beauty, in order to bring joy to himself and people. One day, fate brings him to the steppe state farm, where he meets a wonderful girl. Sergei understands that she is the one and only. But only the girl already has a gentleman, and in order to win her love, Sergei needs to try very hard.

This story is told by academician S. Yuryshev, Director of the Institute of applied biochemistry. The events in it are developing in 20 years during the Civil war, when he sent a geologist searching for copper in the coal mines of the merchant Stasova, and in the 70s, when the head of the Institute. His thoughts and actions as if he reconciles his past, revolutionary romanticism 20-h his life's work was the discovery of a new chemical element. He believes in getting it even when the explosion in the laboratory takes the life of his closest friend and colleague, when his grown-up adopted son, becoming also a chemist, suffered during the experiments. Believe when testing on military ground again fail…

In the Siberian wilderness, on one of the car depots, bad stories occur. It all starts with theft, and leads to murder. And neither the police nor the leadership of the base can put things in order. Moreover, the main character, Alexei, seems that he is completely alone in search of the truth.

In the north of the Urals, the construction of a chemical plant has begun. Construction manager Pyotr Musatov appoints Anton Kitaev, the husband of his sister, a direct and honest man, a former front-line soldier, as a deputy. Anton soon realizes that Peter is a typical careerist, pursuing only selfish goals. Kitaev sharply criticizes the leadership. As a result, he breaks up with his wife, who supports her brother in everything. Moreover, rivalry in love is added to the confrontation in the work - Peter and Anton are in love with one woman ...

In the house of goldmaker Tikhon Kondratievich Molokov, carnival is celebrated noisily, on a grand scale, with gypsies. Everyone drank pretty, and when the mayor tried to “seduce” the owner’s daughter Anisya, the girl’s father broke his nose. Frightened by the consequences of this incident, Tikhon Kondratievich decided to flee the city.