Marie-Margarita is locked in her father's house, like a bird in a cage. She has a secret that she cannot reveal even in confession. This secret burned her heart and subordinated her whole life to only one goal, to which Marie goes, stubbornly clenching her lips. But a young priest who appears in their house attracts the attention of a young girl like a magnet. Everyone says that he is handsome, but Marie is not yet able to understand whether this is so, because only the soul can be beautiful for her. The time has come to weigh holiness and sin, putting them on different sides of the same scales. Literary treatment by E. Polyanskaya.