The hero of the story, a young medical student, falls first under the bad influence of senior students, and then of his bosom friends, in whose company he gradually moves away from his main occupation - studying at the institute, plunging step by step into an alcoholic whirlpool. The story tells in detail , as during friendly drinking and feasting, due to the craving for idleness, the hero gradually loses interest in life, finds himself in various tragicomic situations, morally degrades and, in the end, inevitable retribution comes to him: chronic illness, suffering of relatives and friends, family breakdown.