The euphoria of Moscow’s New Year’s Eve in December 45 coincided perfectly with the mood of captain Sergei Vokhmintsev, who had recently been demobilized from Germany, “when it seemed that everything beautiful in himself and in life had just been understood and it should not disappear.” Four years of war, command of an artillery battery, orders and injuries — such is the pay of a twenty-two-year-old guy for the “bright future” that he expects from fate.

And she sends him at the same time two chance encounters in the restaurant bustle of Astoria, which predetermined his fate for many years to come. Already the first invitation of a lady to a dance becomes "fateful" for Sergey. The geologist Nina, who celebrated with her friends her return from the expedition from the North, imperiously and decisively, by the right of seniority, takes possession of his feelings and desires.

In her company, Vokhmintsev confronts Arkady Uvarov, the main culprit of the terrible tragedy that erupted at the front. Twenty-seven people and four guns were surrounded and shot by the Nazis direct fire in the Carpathian village solely because of the incompetent tactics of the battalion commander Uvarov. Having served time in the dugout, he also managed to blame all the responsibility on the innocent commander of the platoon Vasilenko. By the decision of the tribunal, he was sent to the penal battalion, where he died. Vokhmintsev, the only witness to this crime, does not want to pretend that he has forgotten everything; he publicly blames Uvarov. Conflict in a public place is regarded by others as just a violation of decency. The denouement is a call to the police and a fine for hooliganism.

The burden of a person without certain occupations does not bother Sergei for long. On the advice and patronage of Nina, he enters the preparatory department of the Mining and Metallurgical Institute.

At the New Year's party with Nina, Vokhmintsev meets Uvarov again. He is eager to make friends with him.

To the chiming clock, Uvarov makes a toast "for the great Stalin." Sergei defiantly refuses to drink with someone who is not worthy to "speak on behalf of the soldiers." Passions run high, and Vokhmintsev forces a diplomatic girlfriend to leave guests for his sake ...

Three and a half years have passed. Lectures, seminars, exams - Sergey’s life was filled with new content. It cannot be said that the figure of Uvarov has disappeared from the horizon. He is not just in sight, but in the center of student life. He has a reputation of "primary priority": a five-member, social activist, member of the party bureau, do not spill water with Sviridov, the released secretary of the party organization of the institute. Sergei notes that over time, hatred of Uvarov is replaced by fatigue and "an evil feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself."

Suddenly, events of a different social scale burst into Vokhmintsev’s life. However, a hidden warning about the impending danger can be seen in the misadventures of his neighbor in the communal apartment of the artist Mukomolov. From a high rostrum, a landscape painter is ranked among cosmopolitans and renegades, proclaiming his canvases as ideological sabotage. In the best case, the unfortunate person is deprived of membership in the Union of Artists and the daily work of the decorator.

And now the punishing hand of totalitarian lawlessness reaches the Vokhmintsev family. The search and arrest warrant was presented to the MGB by Nikolai Vokhmintsev, Sergei’s father and old communist. Before the war he was in a leading position, at the front - the commissar of the regiment. In the fall of 45th, the case of the loss of a safe with party documents of his regiment during a breakthrough from the encirclement was investigated in high instances. As a result, the father was content with the quiet work of the factory accountant. There is reason to suspect the denunciation of another communal neighbor - greedy and unprincipled Bykov. Naturally, Sergey’s fate is worried about his father’s fate, and he is remorseful: after the death of his mother (and the reason for her death was seen in the betrayal of his father and a nurse at a field hospital) their relationship ceased to be kindred ... And all this in front of Asya’s younger sister, standing on the threshold of adulthood and now experiencing nervous depression. Sergey’s attempts to prove his father’s innocence in the respective offices do not lead to anything.

Meanwhile, Sergei must go with classmates to practice. Exempt from practice at the dean's office. In the office of the dean there are members of the party bureau Uvarov and Sviridov. With the help of psychological pressure, party bosses dig into the facts shaming the honor of the communist. “You can’t deceive the party,” warn the “guilty”.

The next warning is from Nina. Uvarov tells her that the nearest party bureau will consider the Vokhmintsev case. For Uvarov, this is a real chance to take revenge, female intuition prompts. But even the most daring hypotheses turn pale before the cunning of the enemy. Uvarov calmly and cynically accuses Vokhmintsev of a crime that he himself committed. After a well-staged performance, organizational conclusions followed immediately - expelled from the ranks of the CPSU (b). Here, Vokhmintsev submits an application to leave the institute.

Sergey draws moral support for his decisive steps from his father’s letter sent to freedom. Senior Vokhmintsev is convinced that he and others are “the victims of some strange mistake, some inhuman suspicion, and some inhuman slander.”

Far from Moscow, in Kazakhstan, Sergey tries himself in the chosen profession of a miner. A local secretary of the party’s district committee helps him get a job with a bad profile. It is possible that Nina will come here.