雇われ探偵としてうだつの上がらない日々を過ごす青年は、ある日とある依頼主に、妻の調査を頼まれる。不倫疑惑のある妻の本性を暴く為、妻の尾行を開始するが、あっさりと見失ってしまう。「何か御用ですか」背中から聞こえてきた気品のある声の持ち主は、依頼主の妻だった。何故か調査に協力的な妻に同行する青年は次第に、彼女の魅力に引き込まれていく…

Sparkling, masterful début by Kovalov is found-footage compilation of e.g. news items, propaganda material and instruction films. For his directing début, Oleg Kovalov chose a very extravagant experiment. As a basis he took a propaganda film from the fifties, The Case of Corporal Kochetkov, dissected this as it were and gave the naked structure a new substance and new accents by re-cutting the shots and adding documentary material from the fifties, such as newsreel footage of Khrushchev's visit to America and pictures of the visit by Yves Montand and Simone Signoret to Moscow. The film about corporal Kochetkov called on the Soviet citizens to be on their guard and showed how sly the enemy was: for instance it could pose as an innocent girl. Kovalov creams off the emotional froth from this melodrama, deconstructs its codes and subjects it to a thoughtful analysis. For instance he reveals paranoia and spy-phobia, complexes in the 'collective Soviet unconscious' that is still active even in relatively enlightened periods.