In the evenings, a man wanders around the dark outskirts and sings loudly: “The bird of happiness of tomorrow, take me!..” This is Kolya Glukhoy, a local drunkard: he walks around the village, knocks on windows, demands moonshine... Meet him and with other colorful characters - residents of an ordinary village in the Tambov outback. Not folklore, but real modern peasants work, relax, have fun and be sad, sing and dream. The author talks about their present, about the Soviet past with its bygone culture with respect and humor.