Valeriy Guryanov

A group of scientists is sent to the planet Arkanar to help the local civilization, which is in the Medieval phase of its own history, to find the right path to progress. Their task is a difficult one: they cannot interfere violently and in no case can they kill. The scientist Rumata tries to save the local intellectuals from their punishment and cannot avoid taking a position.

The chairman of the Rassvet collective farm, Foma Lukash, lived honestly and fairly. But when his heart began to catch, Lukash went to the hospital. Meanwhile, his deputy began to establish new orders on the collective farm. For example, the working day was moved to a later time. Many people liked it, because it wasn’t war. But Foma, upon leaving the hospital, did not accept the new changes - and demanded early re-election of the chairman...

A group of friends, including Mukhin, a furniture factory worker, with his wife and son, go out on a day off. There are four drunk young men in the neighborhood. They pester vacationers and start a fight. They are rebuffed only by Mukhin. Protecting his wife and child, he hit the leader of a hooligan gang. Death was instantaneous. The rowdies turn out to be locals. They pretend to be victims, blaming the "tourists" from the city.

A poignant love story against the backdrop of the Great Patriotic War.

A film anthology featuring three stories: 1) “The Capron Christmas Tree” - Two men and a city dandy, courting a village girl, return home on New Year’s Eve, with the dandy’s nylon Christmas tree gift offending the men. 2) “A Ticket for the Second Showing” - Timofey, an elderly village swindler, regrets his life and prays to Saint Nicholas for a second chance. 3) “The Version” - A rural braggart recounts his city adventure with a restaurant manager, challenging disbelievers to join him on a repeat trip.

After a failed marriage, Sasha Vasiliev leaves his wife and takes a job as a gamekeeper in a nature reserve. Before long, he comes into conflict with a powerful and wealthy politician who wants to buy a stretch of riverbank within the reserve for personal use. All Sasha has to do is sign a single document, and everything would stay quiet and peaceful — but he refuses.

At a meeting of the bureau, under pressure from the first secretary of the district committee of the party, the agronomist of the collective farm Boris Kholmovoy was dismissed and expelled from the party for allegedly arbitrary actions. Disagreeing with the decision of the district committee, Kholmovoy files an appeal. The secretary of the regional party committee Plotnikov, wanting to understand this complicated matter, goes to the collective farm.

In the center of the plot is a senior investigator named Masha Shvetsova and her male colleagues. The plot is the most vital, but, like in “Streets of Broken Lanterns,” it is seasoned with a fair amount of humor - otherwise, how can the audience (and the heroes) endure countless morgues, identifications and other “cute” charms of the investigative routine?