A literary teacher Antonina Sergeevna goes to work at an elite physical and mathematical lyceum from a regular school. She is surprised to see how respectful the students are here - as to full-fledged creative personalities. Soon she begins an affair with a young school principal - a talented physicist, candidate of science. But the euphoria of the first months of communication with students is replaced by disappointment - her pets turn out to be cold, rational people, almost indifferent to the beautiful .