This bittersweet coming-of-age story was based on a novel by Vera Panova.

Near the close of the Russian Civil War, in 1923, a young man begins studying journalism at a worker newspaper and has a series of romantic adventures which cause him to mature swiftly. He rescues a beautiful girl from an abusive family situation, only to lose her to a smooth-talking swindler the first time he has to leave town on assignment. Another much nicer and more principled girl is really in love with him, but he doesn't know it.—Anonymous