Plot synopsis: Stepan Kochkarin, the chairman of one of the leading Altai collective farms, a former front-line soldier, intends to unite the machinery and personnel of the neighboring backward farms into a single complex on the central farmstead, but not everyone supports him. A number of issues, including his re-election, are postponed until the fall. The harvesting season arrives and the chairman carries out the harvesting in the most difficult natural conditions without losses.