Plot synopsis

Year 1924. A young man from the Mari Republic, Kavyrlia, employed in the company LEBEDEV, specialized in transporting wood by floating, was in love with a young girl, Anouk. The boss of this company, an old man, who had sought the love of this young woman, hated him.
One day, a fight broke out between the two men, on the river, and Lebedev fell into the water and began to sink. Terrified of being accused of murder, Kavyrlia ran away and, after meeting the thief and vagabond Garokh, decided to team up with him.
Our hero ended up in a labor camp and began a new life based on honesty, having changed his name to Mikhail.
Having learned that Micha [Mikhail] loved music and played the flute well, the prison official helped him enter the conservatory.

Five years passed. Micha had become a famous flutist. Having read an article about him in the press, Anouk decided to look for Kavyrlia.
Fearing that he would be identified as Lebedev's murderer, the flutist refused to acknowledge his identity in front of the girl to whom he had written throughout the years.
Humiliated, the girl returned to the village. Kavyrlia went to seek advice from her guardian at the penitentiary center. He then learned that Lebedev had survived and that he had been arrested as an enemy of the people. Kavyrlia returned to the village to find Anouk.