On the New Year Eve all members of one big family of the honored metallurgical worker, now deputy N.P.Kuznetsov, gather in one house. A bit earlier a serious wreck takes place on their plant, and everyone blames their old family friend, a transport administration head (V.Solomin). An elder son of the deputy (V.Nevzorov), chief plant engineer, has the same opinion, notwithstanding the fact that they are childhood friends. And somehow it turns out that the pre-holiday meeting turns into a family council, where the main theme is the investigation into the wreck and its reasons, the investigation which arrives at quite unexpected conclusions.