Conscripts fall in for the last time to their discharge. Their captain faces the ranks and greets them as a real man. Manhood, a recurrent motif in the film, is their way in life, the ideal that each of them would seek to attain and vindicate. Ivan seems to be first of them to realize the meaning of true love, of parenthood and child upbringing, of conscientious work. He returns to the research institute where he has previously worked. For two years, nothing has changed here. Ivan rebels against the simulation of activity and against the pseudo scholarly atmosphere. An honest man, he openly blames the director and will not evade his own share of the joint responsibility for this state of affairs. The other young man, Sasho, gets lost in the philistinism of the town. He makes a name for himself as a philanderer. At first, he takes a rest from the national service stint at his father's home, but later on, the comfortable job put aside for him at the bank proves too much crippling for ...