Having lived for his pleasure most of his life, floor polisher Ivan Karetnikov, on the threshold of his 60th birthday, did not for the first time leave his next wife himself, but she abandoned him, moreover, in public. In addition to these troubles, he was fired from his job, replaced by a mechanical polisher. In this difficult moment, Karetnikov remembered the first wife, and then the second and third. But turning to each of them, he seems to begin to lose hope of seeing compassion for himself.

Borja and Seva live on the bank of the Dnieper. In summer, during vacations, they help adults by delivering letters. Suddenly they learn that a poacher has appeared in the village. The boys start their own investigation.

The naive hero, having read clever books, marries a prostitute with the aim of re-educating her and collides with the famous Sergei Eisenstein, ending in the most unexpected and fatal way...

1920年代，苏联逐渐从革命和内战中恢复过来，但全国共有近4百万流浪青少年徘徊街头，给社会治安带来很大影响。于是契卡决定在各地建立专门学校，改造这些流浪儿童，帮助他们重新融入社会。彼得格勒的“陀思妥耶夫斯基公社学校”（“陀校”）就是一所这样的机构。然而被送进来的学生却都负隅顽抗，在学校制造各种事端。校长维克托·尼古拉耶维奇·索罗金（“维尼索”）却决定不和他们硬碰硬，而是顺势而为，春风化雨。于是，学员们成立了“陀校共和国”，准备放手大干一场……