Tamara Volina came to Moscow from the village, entered the University and in her first year married the son of a professor. But marriage did not bring happiness to the girl: the husband turned out to be a jealous and drunkard, and gave Tamara and their daughter Nastya a terrible life. Nastya grew up listening to her father's drunken screams and the clink of broken dishes, seeing Tamara's fear. Due to constant scandals at home, Nastya could not cope with her studies, and one day Tamara was called by the headmaster of the school, Yevgeny Pavlovich Ilyin. An ordinary conversation turned into a real drama and entailed unexpected consequences for the characters.