At a literature lesson in the third grade of a rural school, an emergency occurs: the teacher gets a paper ball in the back of the head. The guilty Yerken cannot bring any of his relatives to school: his mother has died, his father has left and started a new family, and his older brother is studying in the city. Yerken is sent to the principal and humbly endures the punishment – two noogies. The older brother, who arrived for a short time, is wrestling with the younger one on the carpet and teaches him to be courageous, although in terms of independence and ability to cope with circumstances, Yerken seems to have long surpassed many of his adult fellow villagers.