The Golubin family enjoys life in the mansion. A peasant woman, Ksyusha, is hired as their maid. Soon, she meets a young printing press worker, Nikolka. They are brought together, partly by their shared grief—both lost loved ones to tuberculosis. After the revolution, the manor house is converted into a tuberculosis sanatorium, where the ailing Ksyusha and Nikolka receive the necessary treatment. While cake-eating competitions are held in the Golubin mansion, a pining teenager is dying in a damp basement. Greed, immorality, and the pampered upper crust, while poverty, disease, and illiteracy prevail…
Vladimir Gardin recalled that he had two goals in mind for the film: “to show the true drama of the events and to give the film an educational value.” Hence the combination of a live-action plot with popular science and animation inserts. Upon seeing the finished product, the director was disconcerted by its “duplicity and diversity of styles,” but this did not prevent audiences from warmly welcoming the film.
