The plot of the film is based on the events of one summer day in the life of the Chekhov family at the dacha in the mid-80s of the 19th century. 26-year-old Anton selflessly, with difficulty supports a large and dysfunctional family: a ruined father, a sickly mother, sister, older and younger brothers. From morning to evening, he is busy with daily literary work - he writes short comic stories in cheap magazines. Anton Chekhov, the future great writer, is only aware of his own gift in the film. Next to Anton, his older brothers are Nikolai, a talented artist who never wrote his painting masterpiece, and Alexander, Anton's closest friend and desperate envious, a gifted writer who "wasted" his talent.