Masha and Maxim Kovalyov, having worked in the Netherlands for eight years, are returning home. The in-laws are eagerly looking forward to meeting Zhenya — now without Yuri, who died of a heart attack a few years ago. But what awaits them is not a sweet, obedient girl, but a difficult, rebellious teenager who grew up without parental attention and now frightens those around her with her behaviour and interests. The situation is made worse for the in-laws by the calculating and cunning twins, Nikita and Vika, who are ready for risky adventures.

The in-laws decide to take Zhenya and the twins to Olga’s house for a ‘re-education’—Olga has moved to Sosny-3, a village for the scientific elite. Attempts to reform them, first using Ivan’s method and then Olga’s, yield no results. Only an understanding of teenage problems and active involvement in solving them reveals the old Zhenya to them — determined, witty and cheerful. And, as ever, loving her grandparents. Along the way, the matchmakers take part in a goth festival, become chatters and organise a family band; Zhenya finds a friend who turns out to be a rival, and her first serious crush, which ends in disappointment; Valya becomes a motorist and businessman; and Olga finds new love.