In 1920, just 3 years after the October revolution, the peoples had to decide between conforming to Bolshevism or national self-determination. In that torn-apart-time, one man, the comedian Volodya, tries to mediate, not between different ideologies, but social life and art. While others just want to wash away their gloom, he reflects on the everyday sorrows and the role of art in that time of changes.
Pupils of the ordinary high school organize a “secret society” under the motto “Help the offended and weak, avenge widers and upstarts!” The new pioneer leader supports the children, and soon he manages to make the school life of the children truly fascinating.
The end of the civil war. A sailor Alexey Zvorykin is appointed Director of the automobile plant. After training in America at Ford he finishes release of the first Soviet lorry and personally takes part in the international motor rally in Sands of Kara-Kuma which is won by our car.
