Zhamin, a member of a geological expedition and a former criminal, receives a strange letter, after which he quits his job and hurries through the taiga to a nearby station. In the city it is necessary to leave and his main enemy Legostaev, whom Zhamin has long threatened to kill. Zhamin comes to the station alone. He‘s found to have a bloody knife and a large sum of money with him.

Having entered the institute, the hero of the film, along with his new comrades, goes to the village "for potatoes". A month spent in the "open air" not only fills the life of a spoiled urban youth with interesting acquaintances and impressions, but also gives him his first love.

A Russian investigator and a Buryat policeman are investigating the murder of a truth-seeking huntsman in the Baikal taiga.