Summer. The last time the main character Ala Amosova was in her native village Letovka last year, at her mother’s funeral. Now she wanted to learn as much as possible about the news from Aunt Anisya and Mani, whom she had come to visit. They told her about the main thing - the construction of a new club and the marriage of Alkina's girlfriend.

Alya moved to the city a couple of years ago and worked in the dining room as a waitress, where Arkady Semenovich arranged for her. She made good money and praised her boss. She said that she no longer lives with her gentleman Vladislav Sergeyevich. I learned that he was paying child support and realized that he would not be able to provide them financially.

Alka missed her native village so much that she wanted to experience all the charms at once: in the bathhouse and in the bathhouse, in the cherry-tree bush, near which she used to wait for her tired mother returning from the bakery; and in a meadow beneath a mountain, where a mower was poured all morning; and by the river ...

During the walk, Alka met her friends: her neighbor, Peka Kamennogo, who did not immediately recognize her, in the car that he had long dreamed of; played her teacher Yevlampiya Nikiforovna, went to an almost completed new club, where she really liked everything. I met with my friends, helped them mow hay, and then swam merrily and screeching in the river.Alka was extremely happy to return to her native village atmosphere.

At home, at dinner, Ala discussed everything in a row with the old women gathered in her aunt's house: pensions, icons, berries, the benefits of living water ... Then they went with Anisya for berries. In the forest, the special smell of foliage reminded Ale the deceased mother and inspired sadness ... But when she went out on the road, she again met Peka and, talking to him, was distracted from the memories of her mother. Returning from a walk, Alka met the old woman Khristoforovna. She said that the path to the river was renamed the Paladin Trail in honor of Alina’s mother. She was still a toiler - no one has walked along this path as much as she is. When she reached the bakery where her mother worked, Alka was sad again, because this bakery brought her mother to the grave. She stood and waited for her mother to appear in the window. But this did not happen, and Ala went to the local store.

Shopping was a girl's passion. There she met Seryozha, on whom she sighed not so long ago. He was drunk. After chatting with the saleswoman Nastya, Alya went on. Sergei did not go out of his head. She remembered how she felt good with him, and compared with what he is now.

Then the main character went to the old friend Lidka. In her house, much has changed, and she herself is very prettier. Lidka met her friend very warmly, and they kept discussing Lida’s growing stomach. She was pregnant just from that Mitya, who had been caring for Alea for a long time.

Returning from the guests, Alya and her aunt Anisya talked about men. The aunt kept asking Alia about her boyfriends. Then they discussed Mitya Yermolov again.Alka could not stand it and burst into tears, leaning on her shoulder to Anisya: “Aunt, aunt,‹ ... ›why does nobody love me?” Alka believed in love and envied Lidka with Mitya. The aunt tried to calm her niece, said how beautiful she was and that everything would turn out for her, then she quietly put Alia to sleep.

The next day, Alka thought that her mother was calling, and she woke up. Ali's home has been empty for many years, and so Ala lived with her aunt. Barefoot, she ran to her mother's house. I ran into the courtyard, where everything was done as my mother wanted, ran through the gate, through the canopy, ran into the room where the bed on which the mother died, and whispered: "Mom, I came." But besides the cat Busik in the house no one responded. The cat did not leave home even after the death of her mother, and Alya began to reproach herself for exchanging her mother for the city. “Mom, mom, I will stay. Do you hear I won’t go anywhere ... Al whispered ... Tears flowed down her cheeks. "

Ala was determined to stay in the village. The first thing she cleaned up in her parents' house. How wonderful it is to drown the stove in the morning, to wash the floors, to warm the samovar itself. And what a pleasure walking barefoot through a clean, washed house! Ala thought for a long time who she would work with and decided that she would become a milkmaid. Now she did not understand why she had left for a busy city to serve drunk uncles when there were so many pleasures of life at home. Manya and Anisya were against such a decision by Ali, but still the girl went to the city for things.

Arriving at the apartment in which they had been living with a friend for two years, the first thing Ala had a chat with Tomka.She was going to a party and called Alka with her, but she refused. Upon learning that Alya was going to leave back to the village, Tomka persuaded her to stay and try to work with her as an international class stewardess. Alki’s whole resolve was lost, because she dreamed of such a job. She stayed.

Two years later, in the fall, Anissier received a letter from Ali. Brief, without explanation: sell the house, send money. For all her life, Anisya neither Alka nor her mother did not cross her, but then rested, did not flinch. Mother and father put so much energy into this house all their lives ... Soon Anisya fell ill. She kept waiting for the door to open and a carefree, smiling Alka to appear on the doorstep.

- Aunt, but I found a buyer. Well, pack it rather on the table, wash this thing ...