Rodka Gulyaev is a pupil of the Gumniskii rural secondary school. He on the bank of the river and digs up a darkened old icon. His grandmother Avdotya, an overbearing and cunning old woman, starts a rumor that the icon is miraculous, and her granddaughter is a saint. This event radically changed the life of the youngster, since the villagers called him "the chosen one of God." Rodka was forced to pray and intimidate with "punishments of God," leading the pioneer to attempt suicide.