The plot is based on the story of a museum worker Nina Kosenkova, who lives an almost solitary life. The circle of her communication is pictures in a museum and the housemate Elena Nikolaevna, in the past the known opera singer. Elena Nikolaevna because of the age and almost pathological distrust to others never leaves the apartment. But it was she and her home that became a tasty morsel for black realtors.

Nina accidentally meets a boy Sanka in a shop, whose sister and mother died in a car accident the day before, and promises the boy to paint a portrait of his mother. At work, unpleasant things begin to happen to Nina – the museum building is going to be taken away, and as a result, all the paintings and museum staff may be on the street. The girl tries to fight with officials and defend the museum, but encounters many obstacles. Fearing losing her job and livelihood, Nina rents a room in her apartment to Roman, a very nice and educated young man. It would seem that Nina's financial situation may improve and, perhaps, there will be changes in her personal life, but after a while it turns out that Roman is not who he pretends to be ...