The rebel leader Jose Real is allowed to leave prison for one day to visit his family. But it is a ruse to make him reveal the whereabouts of his rebel gang. This existential drama disguised as a saga about the proletarian struggle presents a lonely and insecure individual who is challenged to act more heroically than he is prepared to, but who constantly questions his confidence and loyalties.
Khokhlova, a girl-reporter on a Moscow newpaper, falls in love with factory manager Petrovsky. To her he's the epitome of manliness--virile, decisive, strong-minded. Conversely, she rejects the sensitive, diffident editor Vasilchikov, who's in love with her, as unmanly. Her infatuation affects her work, and she is fired.
The cursed legacy for the young state are drunkards and truants, who have not yet rebuilt their lives in the new social conditions. But life is changing: the inhabitants of the commune dormitory, a huge, cubist-style house, “orderly” run in the morning for exercise, eat in the canteen, which resembles a factory conveyor belt.
