Some live the high life while others barely survive. A young girl, Lyuba lives with her elderly Aunt Barbara. The aunt abuses the girl, and later, "sells" her to a neighbor and kicks her out of the house. But Lyuba does not stay in the street for long, she is sheltered by a woman she meets, who turns out to be a brothel madam.
The madam also imposes a contract of adhesion upon the girl. The Tyrkin family lives next to Aunt Barbara. Pyotr Tyrkin works for the businessman-butcher Kondratiev. Tyrkin's everyday life is well-adjusted. His wife Vera keeps house and raises their two young children. Working for Kondratiev brings a regular income. Tyrkin is killed when drunk. Left without a livelihood, Vera is forced by the situation to give herself to the butcher the boss of her deceased husband , and then to sell her body.
On the street she meets with the veteran prostitute Manka. Manka tells Vera that when she worked as a maid, she was seduced by the son of the mistress. After getting kicked out of the house by the mistress for having relations with her son, she became homeless. On the street she came to work at a whorehouse and contracted a venereal disease from which she is still recovering. Vera is unable to earn money by prostitution. Both of her children fall seriously ill.
In desperation she tries to commit suicide by throwing herself into an ice-hole. But she does not succeed and is rescued. Among the saviors is Lyuba who managed to escape from the brothel and now works in a sewing workshop at a venereal dispensary.
She has a new boyfriend is Shura who is a member of the Komsomol. The brothel keeper does not want to just let Lyuba go. She threatens to tell Shura all about her past. So, the teary-eyed girl tells Shura everything herself. Shura sympathizes with her and helps to write a letter to the prosecutor. The police break up the den.
