Young musician Zhenya Kovalchuk falls in love with aerobatic pilot Yulia. The feeling is mutual, but Yulia cannot bring herself to reveal her feelings to Zhenya. Then the famous, but not yet elderly, Doctor of Science Kressovsky, who also hopes for Yulia's affection, stands in his way. The two suitors clash with their swords, and the duel ends with the doctor being wounded. The doctor intrigues, and Zhenya faces expulsion from the institute.

This movie tells a true story about events in Zagreb in 1941. Nazis and their collaborators organized the great gathering of students on Dubrava stadium. The intention was to publicly separate Jews from them which would lead to future pogrom. The event, however, took an unexpected turn.

A former aristocrat Ippolit Vorobyaninov leads a miserable life in Soviet Russia. His mother-in-law reveals a secret to him - she hid family diamonds in one of the twelve chairs they once had. Vorobyaninov in cooperation with a young con artist Ostap Bender start a long search for the diamonds.