Senka Shaly (Semen Alekseevich) decided to change his life. He is already twenty-six soon - all his youth in the sea has remained. He served in the army in the Navy, having been demobilized, he decided to earn extra money at sea before returning home, and he remained in the Atlantic a "herring" sailor. His marine life was a little like what he dreamed of in adolescence — three months of hard work in the field, a cramped cockpit filled with the same hard workers, scourges, in every new voyage. And almost always difficult - because of Senkin’s independent nature - relations with the boatswain or captain. Between flights, a week or two on the shore, and again - at sea. He earned, however, decently, but the money did not stop - they flew out in companies with random drinking buddies. The meaninglessness of such a life languished Senka. It's time to live seriously.
Leave here and take Lily with you. Senka treasured his acquaintance with this girl - this is the first woman with whom he could speak seriously about what tormented him.
But to turn fate did not work. During a farewell detour of the port, two coastal beggars stuck to it, helped to buy a jacket, and went to wash together. Suddenly Senka felt sorry for two beggars. With this Senkina pity, which many laughed at, everything went. Senka invited them to a restaurant for the evening, to note his departure from the sea. And Klavka, who was just met in the dining room, beautiful, pagan, - from the breed of predators, as Senka seemed at once - also called. And he ran into the institute, where Lilya worked, to inform about her decision and invite him to the evening. But the holiday did not work. Senka looked back at the door, waiting for Lilia, but she still did not go. Senka was completely sick of sitting with these strangers for him, listening to the mocking remarks of Clavka. Having abandoned the company, he rushed to a distant suburb to the unrequited and faithful Ninka. Ninka was sitting a young soldier, and it was clear that they were well together. The soldier didn’t even want to beat the face - for nothing. Yes, and Ninka feel sorry. And again, Senka was on a frozen night street. There was nowhere to go. It was here that the recent drinking companions found him, they drove him to play games to Klava. What happened later, Senka recalled already in the police: he remembers that they drank, that he explained himself to Klava in love, that they beat him there, threw him out into the street, he made a row, the police arrived. And he discovered Senka that from those thousand two hundred rubles received for the last flight, on which he was going to start a new life, he had forty kopecks. The scourges with the Keyboard robbed him ... The next morning, Senka rushed through the shipping offices, making out on a flight on the Skakun trawler. Again at sea.
There were no acquaintances on the Skakun, except for his grandfather, senior mechanic Babilov. But it’s not scary - like all your people. With the radio operator, Senka even tried to find out whether they swam together or not, they seemed very familiar to each other - and fate was the same, the same mental disorder, and thoughts torment one: what does a person need in order for life to be real? Work, friends, woman. But Senka did not feel love for his exorbitantly difficult and dangerous work. Relations with Lily are extremely uncertain. But there is only one true friend - grandfather, Babilov, and that Senka like his father. But work did not allow to concentrate on mental may for a long time. Senka quickly became involved in a difficult and in his own way fascinating fishing life. Her monotony was broken by approaching the floating base, where Lily was able to see. The meeting did not clarify their relationship. “I thought that your words about the change of life will remain words. You are like everyone else - ordinary, ”Lily said a little down. There was an even more amazing meeting at the shipyard - with the Keyboard. But she not only was not embarrassed to see Senka in front of her, but seemed to be delighted: “Well, dear, are you looking at me like a wolf?” “Why did you beat me?” What was robbed for? ” “Do you think you are guilty?” But those were your friends, not mine. And I took away your money from you as much as I could, hid it for you. ” And Senka suddenly doubted: what if she was telling the truth?
During the stay at the Skakun floating base, it firmly “stuck” stern to the bow of a nearby trawler and got a hole. The chief from the shipping company Grakov, a longtime enemy of his grandfather, arrived on the trawler. Grakov invited the team to continue swimming after a minor repair: “What kind of panic ?! In our time, we did not work in such conditions. ” Grandfather did not argue about the hole with Grakov. Brew - and all things. Another thing is much more serious: the shell of the vessel could weaken from the impact, and therefore it is urgent to return to the port for repair. But the grandfather did not listen, the captain and the team agreed with Grakov’s proposal. The breach was brewed, and the ship, having received a storm warning, departed from the base, grabbing — this was already arranged by Senka — and Grakova. Giving the ends, Senka pretended not to know that Grakov was still on the ship: nothing, let him try our life. Grakov was not embarrassed, and when the echo sounder showed the proximity of a large school of fish, on his initiative the captain decided to pave the nets. This should not be done in a storm, but the captain wanted to show himself to the authorities. The networks were swept away, and when it was time to put them on deck, the storm intensified, it became impossible to work. Moreover, swept netting posed a serious danger, depriving the ship of maneuverability in a storm. In a good way they should be chopped off. But the captain did not dare to take on such responsibility ... And then something happened that my grandfather warned about, - the paneling departed. Water began to flow into the hold. They tried to scoop it up. But it turned out that the water was already in the engine room. And you need to stop the car, cold water damaged it, urgent repairs are needed. The captain opposed, and his grandfather voluntarily stopped the car. Lost control of the ship dragged to the rocks. The radio operator broadcasted an SOS signal. Death seemed to be very near. And Senka decides on the only thing that he can still do - arbitrarily cuts the cable that holds the swept network. The car earned at low speeds, but the ship still could not cope with the wind. The hope that the floating base would approach them before they were thrown onto the rocks melted away. And in this situation, the grandfather suddenly suggested that the captain go to the aid of a Norwegian trawler sinking nearby. People who have already given up in the struggle for their own life, began to do everything to save the drowning Norwegians. It was possible to approach the perishing trawler and transport the Norwegian fishermen to the Skakuna via a cable thrown from ship to ship. And the worst moment came - their ship was dragged to the rocks. Senka, like everyone else, prepared for death.
But death passed by - the “Horse” managed to slip into a narrow passage, and he ended up in a small bay with calm water. The next day, a rescue boat approached them, and then a floating base. On the occasion of the banquet in honor of the rescued Norwegians, the fishermen from Skakun climbed to the floating base. Walking along the corridor past the deadly tired people, Lily did not even recognize Senka. But he was seriously found scared by the news about the troubles of the “Horse” Keyboard. Senka didn’t get to the banquet, they locked themselves with the Key in her cabin. Finally, he saw a really smart and loving woman next to him. Only the parting turned out to be difficult - Klavka, torn by her previous failures, refused to talk about what could come next.
The ship returned to port, without having completed the voyage. Senka wandered around the city in the usual solitude, trying to realize what was revealed to him on this flight. It turns out that the work that he almost hated, people, scourges and fishermen, whom he had never taken especially seriously, but only put up with nearby, and there was real work and real people. It is clear that he lost Lily. Or maybe she was not at all. It is sad that the happiness that fate gave him, having reduced it with Klava, turned out to be short. But in his life there is everything that he yearned for, you only need to be able to see and correctly evaluate reality. And it seems Senka gained the ability to see and understand this.
By chance at the station where he was sitting in the sideboard, Senka saw Klavka again. She gathered for her relatives, and, seeing her off, Senka found simple and precise words about what their meeting meant to him. These words have decided everything. Together they returned to Klavkin’s apartment. Still, he managed to change his life, albeit not in the way he wanted, but succeeded.
