The history of the "Writer's Company", one of the units of the 8th division of the people's militia of Moscow, became an occasion to talk about the relationship between the artist and the authorities. The protagonist of the film is a collective image of the Poet, his remarks are quotations from the works and notes of Soviet writers. The Poet's dialogue with the Author reveals the Poet's attitude to the Soviet reality from admiration for the changes in his country to the rejection of the party command style in the leadership of the creative intelligentsia.