In an unconscious village lives the young man Roman, the son of a rich man, lazy and scatterbrained. He spends his nights at whoopees and playing cards, returning home in the early hours of the morning. He does not pay attention to his father's reprimands, and when he has too many of them, he leaves the house... On the way, in the middle of a blizzard, he almost freezes, but is saved by a cooperative worker from another village who is taking goods to the store. He takes Roman with him to his house. Thanks to the filer's daughter, Mariyka, and under the influence of a book about Ukrainian cooperation, which he got from Mariyka, Roman's moral transformation takes place, which is closely connected with cooperation and Roman's further work in the local cooperative movement, and which ultimately leads to the happy marriage of Roman and Mariyka...