The film consists of five short stories that reflect five stages (1947 — 1950 — 1957 — 1967 — 1982) the action programs of the heroine of the film, from the age of fifteen, rushed to a typical goal for that time — to smile from the front page of a central newspaper. Her fate is not simple: unhappy love, life with the unloved, a labor colony, love again, then love in return, earthquakes, fires, devastation. The heroine is getting closer to the goal and nothing can stop her..

Vostochnyy roman

Two middle-aged couples live in two-handed village huts: the Zvyagintsev's and the Arefyev's. Once the wives, tired of family life, decided to exchange husbands. Between old neighbors and good friends, a cheerful quadrille begins with a constant change of partners. Without wanting it, a lonely woman Makeyevna takes part in it for the last time, slowly dragging bricks from the Zvyagintsev's yard.