This little-seen and little-discussed film combines animation with self-reflexive, live action segments to embody the anarchic, satiric spirit of the poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930). The film also showcases Sergei Yuktevich's fondness for formal experimentation. It is nominally adapted from Mayakovsky's play "The Bedbug" and his screenplay "Forget All About the Fireplace."

Test pilot Ivan Gribov was seriously wounded in battle, captured, and escaped from the camp. He returned to his city after the war and found out that his wife had buried him, got married and was living well. He stopped flying, got married, and tried not to think about the sky...

Zhamin, a member of a geological expedition and a former criminal, receives a strange letter, after which he quits his job and hurries through the taiga to a nearby station. In the city it is necessary to leave and his main enemy Legostaev, whom Zhamin has long threatened to kill. Zhamin comes to the station alone. He‘s found to have a bloody knife and a large sum of money with him.

A young girl Marina suddenly meets an evil witch so adventures start...

The small town is asleep. Only the young wife of the elderly pharmacist Chernomordik, the owner of the pharmacy, is awake. She has already gone to bed three times, but sleep stubbornly refuses to come to her. Suddenly, footsteps can be heard in the silence of the night. A short while later, two figures in white officer's tunics appear outside the window: one is large and fat, while the other is smaller and thinner. A moment later, a bell rings in the pharmacy, and the worried pharmacist opens the door to the officers. The young officer, Obtesov, orders 15 kopecks worth of mint cakes. Meanwhile, the more experienced doctor strikes up a casual conversation. Soon, a bottle of wine appears on the table, and the young pharmacist agrees to have a sip...

Maria joins a Pentecostal sect. A young worker, Ivan, who has fallen in love with the girl, tries to save her from the sect's influence, but he is hindered by the head of the sect, the cruel and insidious Laguta, who plays a fatal role in Maria's fate.

The action takes place in Siberia where a mysterious wall appears from time to time. Scientists are dispatched to study it and some of them believe that the wall is produced by some sort of alien intelligence, "the Martians", as they call them. The scientists attempt to communicate with the Wall, but all they experience in return are hallucinations about their past experiences. In those visions they are faced with some unresolved issues, repressed memories, and absurd dream-like situations. They meet people – messengers – from their past who reveal to them some simple truths about their own lives, which may be hard to accept, so they dismiss those messengers as the Martians and stubbornly continue attempting to "understand" the Mysterious Wall using their rational minds.