The story of a boy for whom the world suddenly became enormous and swept him into a whirlpool of events. After the demolition of the settlement where Vovka lived, his mother decides to leave for Irkutsk. Packing, travel, flight… In Irkutsk it turns out they have to go farther, to Kamchatka. And there Vovka gets lost and falls in with crooks. He is rescued by Uncle Fyodor, a sailor and crane operator, who finds his mother and brings Vovka to her. Uncle Fyodor also has to go to Kamchatka, and they travel together, first by train, then sail on a ship. Vovka discovers the vast world that had previously existed for him only on the map.