Collective farm chairman Ivan Chuprov deceives the state for the sake of the farm's supposed "benefit" and as a result is morally destroyed himself while bringing the farm to ruin. The celebrated pig-farmer Nastya Syroegina, nudged by the gentle but firm hand of another chairman, embarks on the path of falsifying results and, unable to bear the torment of her soul and the shame before others, commits a crime in despair.