The 1930s. Young fisherman Oskars Klava dreams of new nets to help him gain independence from the collector Garoza but he lacks the trust of old fishermen.
Cezars Kalnins installs telephones by day and composes pop songs by night. His band has a hard time receiving the permit from Soviet censorship authorities for a public debut. A member of the Culture Committee superficially listens to Cēzars' songs and deems the lyrics "unsuitable and frivolous” and "unfit for the Soviet youth”, and is later powerless to stop the grindstone of public debate, which she has herself initiated.