Alexander Pavlovich Reznikov is short of two hundred rubles (in the 1970s, about one and a half months’ salary for an office worker) to pay for the travel vouchers. His neighbor, a moonlighting contractor named Yura, offers Reznikov a way to earn the money in a single day. To do this, Alexander Palych must be present at the demolition of an old wooden house in the role of a foreman, while Yura will bring in students for the job. He will pay them ten rubles each, while they themselves will receive two hundred and fifty apiece. Reznikov agrees.