An author - a passive young man - enters the Soviet-controlled bureaucracy of Georgia attempting to get his novel published only to be neglected and compartmentalized at every turn.
Kvarkvare is wrongly accused of activities against the Tsar and is imprisoned, but the Socialist Revolution makes him an imposter "hero". Blinded with the authority, he goes to far in his avenge against the whole village.
Road workers, having paralyzed traffic on a busy street, dig a well into which they intend to lower a concrete pipe. Two passers-by watch them...
