When Vera Rohleder wants to meet her husband Bernhard at the airport where he should arrive from Moscow, she is not successful. Later she is told that Bernhard died in a tragic traffic accident. She flies over to Moscow to identify the corpse, but the dead man shown to her doesn't seem to be her husband. When she tries to find out what really happened she gets to meet Andrej Bubka, a Moscow militia officer, who also looks for her husband. Vera cannot believe what Bubka tells her about the reasons why her husband has disappeared.

维克多本来是一个富于正义感的少年，他对社会上的不良现象很憎恶，他最信赖的人就是自己的父亲，他的人生观是在父亲的培养下形成的。不料，父亲却因一件见不得人的事被捕了，这给了维克多极大的打击。他开始沉沦了，和自己几个青年的伙伴认识了—位歌手。在歌手的吸引和教唆下，维克多和他的伙伴吸上了毒，进而淫乱群居。他感到只有在这种放荡的生活才能解除自己的痛苦。但却给他们带来更大的痛苦。他像丧失理智的动物一样，彻底被... 这部影片大量的镜头表现了吸毒给人带来的可怕反应，给人以强烈的视觉印象。表现了维克多等少年在吸毒后产生幻觉，四肢无力，失去意志，然后发生疯狂的淫乱行为的情景。这些场面产生了震撼人心的效果。父亲虽然从小按“正统”的方式培养自己的儿子，但自己却干着违法的活动，父亲的罪恶在儿子身上得到了反应，使人不得不思考社会的责任