The story of the moral decline and rebirth of a young schoolgirl. Turning to faith, she finds solace in a convent.

The film is based on the complex intersections of human destinies during the Patriotic War. The family of the headmaster of the school, Turlyzhan Zhanakov, with their participation and care for disadvantaged people, show the high moral values inherent in Kazakhs. The house by the salt lake became a home for immigrants and evacuees and became a kind of Noah's Ark for the post-war future.

In August 1945 Soviet agent Kasym-khan Chadiyarov (Asanali Ashimov) works undercover in Manchuria, impersonating a Japanese businessman Ishijima. His mission is to prepare forthcoming Soviet operations against the Japanese Kwantung Army.

The repairmen of the railways and their families, living at Road Machine Number 57, without electricity in the railway carriages.