Grief is in family of rich man Epifan Okatov : the head of family decided publicly before all honest people to repent in the "unreasonable and harmful for soviet power life", renounce from the villainous past and give a house it on six chambers to expensive society under school.

In a Kazakh village at the beginning of Soviet power, a wealthy kulak (landowner) voluntarily denounces his opposition to the new regime and hands over his large home to be a new school for the children of the villagers. But three people in the village have difficulty believing that their class enemy is now their friend.—Brian Cady