Young naive girl from a small town Alyona has just finished school and is preparing for examinations at the Moscow Conservatory. However the first but unrequited love ruins all plans – Alyona loses her heart to an army officer Artyom. But he doesn’t care about a hardly familiar girl’s feelings – he has his own life and his own unhappy love story.
Probably the heroine would have gone to Moscow and started all over again, but Artyom, the captain with an impeccable reputation, is sent to prison on a false denunciation. As she learns of this, the romantc Alena follows her beloved to the penal colony setlement, though he does not care a bit about her.