Jarda Lukás (Jan Kacer), a worker from a big machine-tool plant, enjoyed a rather decent career after the Communist putsch in February 1948. As one of the pioneers of the youth-movement of stakhanovites, he skilfully engaged himself in the political work with young people, and thus quickly climbed up. When Stalin's cult of personality was revealed and rejected, however, many things changed and Jarda is unable to cope flexibly with such changes. He keeps working along the old directives and cannot understand that his political work for which he used to be praised once is now just a reason for mockery.