Using an elaborate system of denunciation, the chief of the Zone keeps his prisoners in check. A new inmate, allegedly imprisoned for speculating on postage stamps, tries to rebel against the system.

A delinquent boy of about fifteen years is sent to a reformatory and there finds himself in more trouble than he was in the outside world. Can he endure the frequent bullying that occurs at his new home?

An old woman invades the home of a lonely writer and dies. Soon she becomes his obsession, which is impossible to get rid of.

A provincial Russian city in the era of the Khrushchev thaw. Against the background of historical changes, the fates of the heroes unfold, and among them the young Violetta. Before becoming an actress, the heroine goes through a difficult path of trials and temptations.