After his marriage with Lyuba (Yelena Safonova) breaks down, Boris (Sergei Koltakov) begins to search for an apartment of his own. He locates an apartment for couples which is being inhabited by a lone old lady (Varvara Soshalskaya) who is supposed to move in with her sister (Yevdokiya Urusova). The old lady doesn't want to go, and tries to stave off the inevitable by taking in a young woman Elya (Svetlana Voronina) as a flat-mate. Boris rapes the girl, but despite this she eventually becomes friends with him, and eventually they become lovers, entitling them to rent the apartment together (without the old lady).