Alexei Gorokhov, a village boy, is known as an oddball and a madman. He is full of unbelievable ideas that make his fellow villagers laugh, but they turn out to be not so absurd: potatoes planted in nets yielded a bountiful harvest; a piglet taken for "education" turned into a good pig; and a well appeared near the school...

The young schoolboy goes to the village where his grandfather died in battle during the Great Patriotic War. In the village, the boy finds friends among his peers. The boys decide secretly, by their own efforts, to build a monument to the fallen soldiers. Gradually, their work ceases to be secret - and fellow villagers join in the construction of the monument.