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 pair’s unlikely romance unfolds with Ryazanov’s trademark patience, sardonic wit, and eye for human foibles. A quintessential film of the Brezhnev ‘70s which presents a fascinating vignette of Soviet office culture.