I. Aksyonov

A lost Turkmen village in the hot sands of the Kara-Kum desert. The villagers, who toil on the parched land, are forced to go on a pilgrimage to Aman-Durdi-bai. But then four Komsomol interns arrive in the village—a Russian, a Ukrainian, a Jew, and a Georgian. The students from the hydro-technical university ask the Turkmen to organize an expedition to the Timur hills, which block access to water in the desert. One of the wealthy villagers, who has an interest in keeping the poor dependent on him for their water supply, opposes this idea.