Together with other graduates of the Nautical Institute, Irina Zakharova returns to her native city Odessa. She gets a job of captain’s first assistant on the “Victory” ship, which have a really bad reputation. Setting an example, Irina successfully fights depression among the sailors. She demonstrates outstanding qualities of a real sailor once “Victory” gets into horrible storm. On the background of these events there is a theme of relationships between Irina and the ship navigator of the Red Army’s motor ship "Abkhazia".