Nina Emelyanova

Anatoly Novoseltsev is a mousy single father and office stumblebum working at a statistics bureau in Moscow. In the hopes of being promoted, he is coaxed into charming his disagreeable and seemingly unfeeling boss, Ludmila Kalugina, or "Meany" as she's otherwise known by her subordinates. Helped by his colleagues Olya and Yura, Anatoly attempts to ease the yoke of Ms. Kalugina, and what follows in the wake of his graceless manoeuvres is completely unforeseen, as he awakens a side to her not yet known, even to herself..

In a remote village in Karelia, Sergeant Vaskov commands an anti-aircraft unit that protects a rail depot. While his men are transferred to the front line, he is reprimanded for their unruly behavior. He retorts that he wants replacements that aren't drunks or womanizers. In response, he is assigned a unit made up entirely of young women, fresh from training.

During the twenty years school reunion classmates suddenly learn that one of them - Nadezhda Kruglova - is a proud mother of ten children.

A respected history teacher, Ilya Semenovich Melnikov, decides to quit his job due to distressing rumors about a colleague who is in love with him. His final week is disrupted when a student's controversial essay on happiness sparks a classroom conflict. Melnikov's intervention in the situation ultimately causes him to reconsider his decision to resign.