In the late 1980s, Pasha Karitonov, a young musician from Odessa, returns home from an eight-month trip to India working on board a merchant ship. He has been trying to earn enough money to buy his own flat, a condition imposed by the father of his girlfriend, Lilia before they can get married. However, when exchanging his currency one day, Pasha encounters a young swindler girl, who steals all his money. Pasha realises that this puts paid to the wedding plans, so the lovers decide to flee to Crimea.