Sixties. A small provincial town in Russia. Nineteen-year-old Valera Vazhenin lives with her mother and grandmother. Mom Valera works as a senior normalizer at the factory. The father left the family when his son was six or seven years old, and lives with his new wife Shura. He is a writer, writes reprises for the circus, they say that he even writes a novel. The father visits the old family, gives the mother money. Valera himself works at a factory where very “serious things” are being done, “either rockets or spacesuits - in general, something cosmic.” Valera and his friend Tolik Bozhko make boxes for these important things.
Every day after working under the supervision of a mother and grandmother, Valera prepares to enter a pedagogical institute. Mom considers the son’s friendship with Tolik “strange”. According to her concepts, people should be bound by “common interests” or “ideological convictions”. Valera and Tolik are friends because they are always together, live in the same house, work at the same factory. Tolik dreams of inserting golden teeth, buying a car, saving money for a scooter. He is very surprised that Valera manages to memorize poetry. Once before work, Tolik asked Valera to read something, and he reads Pushkin's Anchar. The poem impresses Tolik very much.
One evening, Tolik comes after Valera, and they go for a walk. On the sports ground near the school, they see a crowd of young people who are training to parachute. Tolik pretends to be a paratrooper, like everyone else, does exercises on the horizontal bar, the instructor writes his last name. Valera, who was embarrassed to do the same, Tolik says that they will definitely jump, that the instructor "the more people, the better." The gathering of paratroopers is scheduled for three in the morning on the boulevard.
Valera and Tolik come to the park. There they meet two girls and invite them to dance. But the guys have no money for tickets, Tolik manages to get two tickets - he “pushed the private trader” for the ruble bearing. Girls go to the dance floor for tickets, and the guys have no choice but to try to climb through the hole in the fence. But as soon as Valera crawls into the hole, he is seized by combatants. They lead him to the police. Tolik refuses to go with him.
At the police station, Valera meets the girl Tanya, who works as a hairdresser and, according to her, got into the police “for easy behavior” - “kissing a boy alone on a bench”. In the end, Valera and Tanya are released. Valera escorts her home. Until the morning at the entrance, she teaches Valera to kiss.
On the way back, Valera meets Tolik. They go to the boulevard, where parachutists gather, and ride with them to the airfield. But the instructor does not allow them to jump, as they are "not on the lists." At the airport, Valera meets his old school friend Slavka Perkova, who is studying at the flying club and is going to enter a flight school. Slava takes Valera with him on a training flight.
Tolik refuses to fly with them.
After the flight, Valera is full of impressions and wants to tell Tolik about them, but he does not listen to him.
After flying with Slavka, Valera always dreams of flying. He takes the documents to the flight school, but his mother takes them from there, saying that “he will never be calm” if Valera flies.
Tolik advises Valera to “fill up” the exams at the institute, join the army, and from there to the flight school. With this thought, Valera comes to the opening essay. Instead of writing on the topic, Valera describes her flight with Slavka. But the teacher who checks the composition likes it, and she puts Valera “five”. In the literature exam, she also puts Valera “five”, saying that “she believes that he knows everything.” But Valera still manages to “fail” the foreign language exam, since instead of English, which he taught at school, Valera is going to take German.
Soon Valera and Tolik receive summons to the army.
Valera is going to visit her father. When he learns that his son is leaving for the army, he gives him his golden watch. Shura believes that this is not necessary, makes a scandal, scoffs at her husband’s writing abilities and is going to leave home. Valera quietly leaves the clock and says goodbye to her father, goes to the hairdresser to get a haircut “under zero”. There he meets with Tanya, she cuts him, and after work they agree to go for a walk. On the way, Tanya pretty annoying Valera with her chatter. In the park, Valera meets Tanya with Tolik, there is also a clash between Valera and Vitka Kozub, an old friend of Valera and Tolik. The guys always did not like Kozub, and now, when he begins to molest Tatyana, Valera stands up for her.
Tolik and Tanya quickly find a common language, and Valera whispers to Tolik that he can "take it for himself." Late in the evening, after spending Tanya home, the guys return to their homes. Along the way, they meet Kozub with his friends. They beat Valera and make Tolik hit him “in a friendly way” too. At first, Tolik refuses, but then, frightened for himself, beats Valera with great zeal. After Tolik apologizes to Valera, but Valera cannot forgive him for betrayal.
Mom and grandmother escort Valera to the army. A year later, Valera manages to get directions to the flight school. Before leaving there, Valera unexpectedly meets Tolik. He says that he serves as a general’s orderly and writes poetry since Valera read Anchar to him.
Tolik recalls the case of Valera’s beating and says that it’s even better for him that it happened, otherwise he would have been “beaten harder”. Valera and Tolik break up, and Tolik asks his comrade not to forget him.
