Sofya Yakovleva

An American engineer, consulting on a Soviet construction project, inspires a backward and timid new foreman to learn better about his job, assert himself, solve problems and inspire his own men to bring the job in ahead of schedule.

To help out his friend Lenya, Yura steals a Stradivarius violin belonging to the professor from his grandfather, a violin maker. Having learned about everything, the professor begins to study with the talented Lenya. Circus performers persuade Lenya to give up the violin and perform in the circus...

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.

Jacob, a farmer, returns from the war to his wife Marie and begs the landlord baron for a plot of land to rent. The Baron grants the request, but only for a barren, rocky, useless acreage. The pair struggle to make do on this land, but then the Baron demands that Maria leave her husband to serve as wet nurse to his married daughter Anya's new baby, on threat of eviction. While nursing the daughter's baby, Maria receives unwelcome attentions from the daughter's husband, and a scandal erupts, ruining Maria in her husband's eyes. When she escapes from her employers and seeks to return home, the police give her the yellow passport signifying a prostitute, further degrading her. She approaches home, unsure of the reception that awaits her.

Deux garçons de la campagne s'installent à Moscou. L'un devient un ouvrier du bâtiment qui rêve d'être un inventeur, l'autre devient un poète décadent.