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Ivan Mirosnikov, a cheeky young man in the Gorbachev era, is trying to figure out what to do with his life (he's not in college, and the 2-year mandatory military service is looming large ahead of him). Meanwhile, he lives with his divorced mother, and works as a courier at a Russian newspaper. Through his job, he meets patronizing Professor Kuznetzov and his rebellious daughter Katya. To annoy the professor, Ivan claims to have an affair with Katya. To his surprise, Katya backs his story up.
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The story starts in a Siberia where world's biggest diamond was found. It is so valuable that it may not only pay off the enormous national debt, but also allow every Russian citizen to move to the Canary Islands. However, Mafia plans to steal the massive gem but a notorious thief, Vasia, ruins their plans. Mafia and militia begin chasing him, but soon Vasia learns that he has brothers as between the chase he runs into well known Jewish conductor and a gypsy baron who are triplet brothers.
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The film is based on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky “Without a Dowry”.
The action takes place on the banks of the Volga in the fictional provincial town of Bryakhimov in 1877-1878. Harita Ignatyevna Ogudalova, a noblewoman of a good and respected family, a widow with three adult daughters, became impoverished after her husband’s death, but she does everything to arrange her daughters' life and marry them to sufficiently rich and noble grooms. In the absence of funds, she keeps an open house, hoping that a society of beautiful and musical young ladies will attract single men rich enough to marry loveless women. Kharita’s only “at a loose end” daughter is the youngest - Larisa Dmitrievna Ogudalova, who is not indifferent to several wealthy gentlemen at once, among whom Sergey Sergeyevich Paratov is a handsome, charming, smarty, frivolous and rich gentleman.