A film about the life of film director Vitaly Melnikov. The son of an "enemy of the people," a student of Yutkevich and Eisenstein, and a witness to Stalin's "personality cult" and its debunking, Melnikov created such celebrated films as "The Chief of Chukotka," "Mama Got Married," "The Eldest Son," "Vacation in September," "Marry the Captain," and "Poor, Poor Pavel." This documentary about Vitaly Melnikov is the director's personal story and the history of our country, inseparable from each other.