The heroes of the film are students of a pedagogical university, those who, after a year or two, have to carry knowledge to schoolchildren, "to sow the rational, good, eternal." In the meantime, student practice. True, the practice is not quite ordinary, because for the first time students leave far from the walls of their own university, for the first time they meet with students in the classroom not in the presence of their teachers, those with whom life encounters them daily at the institute, but with those who have been working for more than a year at school.

影片再现了十月革命后第一代苏联青年为保卫和巩固苏维埃政权、恢复国民经济、以及同国内外敌人及各种困难进行顽强斗争的历程。
本剧是一部在苏联国内外享有盛誉、深受我国读者喜爱的、影响了几代人的世界名著。剧中主人公保尔·柯察金少年时就参加了红军，无论在战争的炮火中，还是在国民经济恢复时期，柯察金都表现出大无畏精神、钢铁一般的意志、对党和人民无限忠诚。由于在战争中多次负伤以及劳累过度，他全身瘫痪、双目失明，但他战胜了精神与肉体的打击，拿起笔来歌颂为建立、捍卫和巩固苏维埃政权而奋斗的英雄。
“人最宝贵的是生命。生命属于人只有一次。人的一生应当这样度过：当他回首往事的时候，不会因为碌碌无为、虚度年华而悔恨，也不会因为为人卑劣、生活庸俗而愧疚。这样，在临终的时候，他就能够说：‘我已把自己的整个的生命和全部的精力献给了世界上最壮丽的事业──为人类的解放而奋斗。’”