Anatoly, a shy statistical bureau employee, is raising his two sons as a single parent. He is too afraid to directly ask his boss, the formidable Lyudmila, for a promotion, and everything seems to go wrong when he insults her at a party. The unlikely pair fall in love despite all the odds, transforming Lyudmila’s personality in the process. At the same time, Anatoly’s friend Olga falls in love with an arrogant new colleague recently returned from the West. Among the drama, unrequited love letters fall into the wrong hands and motivations are questioned in this iconic romantic comedy which presents a fascinating vignette of office life in seventies Moscow.