Vadim Artyukhov, deputy mayor of the provincial town of Karatovsk, is used to solving everyone's problems. He's exhausted: everyone constantly wants something from him, and he has no time to consider what he wants. Artyukhov faces a difficult choice: continue his usual career as a civil servant, maintaining his relationship with his wife, who could eventually lead him to the mayoral post, or take a risk and start a completely different life, one he's long been afraid to even dream of, but one that the progressive and highly honest scientist Slivyankina is pushing him toward. His own mistakes and the need to make honest decisions become his most difficult test. Putting off the decision becomes impossible: the sudden threat of a universal apocalypse arises. Local astronomer Udodov records an object hurtling toward Earth. The authorities secretly build a bunker, and Artyukhov struggles to save the townspeople and finally decide what kind of person he wants to be.