A retired Air Force colonel comes to the Crimea on summer vacation. He comes as a non-official holidaymaker, so his main problem is finding somewhere to stay in a locale brimful of summer holiday-makers. For locals the main business is renting bunks, and if they also manage to make money selling pears, apples, and grapes, the whole winter will be supported. Thus many locals survive, but others become callous, cynical cold fish concerned only about gains. The colonel rents a bunk from flat-owner Anna Ivanovna; looking over a photo in the hall, he suddenly recognizes himself in his youth with a friend who died of consumption--and turns out to be Anna's son.
