This story began in the morning near the registry office, where the ship mechanic Gavrilov was supposed to, but did not appear at his own wedding. 38-year-old attractive woman Rita, the mother of a pretty high school daughter Tanya, is going to marry him. Rita in love waited for him all day, suffering and hoping, not leaving far from the cherished doors. In vain she waited for him with guests near the registry office and in the restaurant, looked for him on the ship, waited again at the registry office. The film is set in Odessa. Gavrilov half an hour before the wedding stood up for an unfamiliar woman, after which two "ladies' men" were in the hospital, and he was in the police. The action of the picture covers one day in the life of the heroine, whose mood fluctuates between despair and hope.