A young priest, Father Mikhail, arrives in the village of Openki. Having restored the dilapidated church, the priest begins the service. At the same time, an old man named Filin appears in the village, calling himself a "holy man of life," and settling with Matryona, who lost her son in the war, he begins to involve the old women of the village in his "faith." The inexperienced priest cannot stand the competition with the seasoned charlatan in the fight for the minds of the village old women, and leaves. Local authorities hung a sign on the church: "Architectural monument. Protected by the state," they close the church and report to the district about a major victory for scientific atheism.