Karl Erp, head of the district library in Berlin, the capital of the GDR, a forty-year-old family man with an emerging abdomen, wakes up in his room with a smile on his face. While reading a book at breakfast, he thinks about the broiler. After graduating from a library school, she, along with another student, undergoes a six-month internship in his library.

On the eve of the team at the meeting, the question of which of the two trainees to leave in the library after passing the final exams was decided. The director of the school recommended Broder, she is a Berliner, from among those who would wither without Berlin. The issue was resolved in favor of the girl, everyone recognized that her knowledge was enormous and her moral character was impeccable. But after the meeting, colleague Hasler unofficially expressed the opinion of many employees that the maid of honor, perhaps lacks cordiality, she is too straightforward, he is afraid, as if in her presence, "not to chill the soul."

Reflecting on the appearance of his subordinate, Earp recalls her posture, pleasant restraint, and in the features she finds something “detaching”. Then he sees the girl’s smiling lips, hears her soft intonations, which sometimes lead to confusion of the interlocutor. It becomes irresistible when "naturalness breaks through artificial coldness."

While Erp thinks about the intern, absorbing a delicious and healthy breakfast prepared by his wife, Elizabeth is engaged in children. Elizabeth asks her husband if he will return home in time, and is satisfied with the negative answer. She studied her husband well and has no doubt that she will later find out everything in detail. She is not afraid of stories with women, he always talks about everything. Elizabeth is sure that her husband did not deceive her, did not violate marital fidelity. She sometimes tries to suppress the anxiety or jealousy that arises.

The family lives in a well-maintained house with a garden that Elizabeth received from her parents who moved to West Berlin. Earp fell in love with this house, is proud of the lawn, which he is engaged in.

The working day goes on for Erpa unbearably long. He has to inform trainee Krach about the decision in favor of Freilaine Broder. Erp is trying to console dissatisfied Krach, revealing to him the prospects of library activity in the village and scolding Berlin. The conversation ends with the vicious remark of a trainee bypassed - for some reason, Earp himself does not leave to work in the village. Earp is embarrassed, it is painful for him to have enemies, he is used to the popularity of both women and men.

In the evening, Erp goes to visit his sick trainee and, under a plausible pretext, tell her good news. Freilane Broder lives in an old, desolate house with many noisy and crowded residents. Here she was born and lived with her parents, now deceased.

Earp climbs the dirty stairs and stands for a long time in front of the door of the maid of honor to calm the excitement. From the very morning he had been looking forward to this moment, and now he was afraid that her only look “would kill all hope”. This does not happen, and since both were tireless talkers, their meeting lasted six hours.

Earp returns home at half past two in the night. Elizabeth silently accepts his apology and then listens to the details. Karl has no secrets from his wife, he feels the need for "honesty." The husband describes Broder's house and tiny room: the kitchen is on the landing, the restroom is on the other floor, one for all the residents. He already hardly remembers what they were talking about: library problems, literature, readers' psychology, sleep patterns, peppermint tea, the Bundeswehr ... Earp thoroughly describes the girl’s peculiar habit: she constantly strokes her eyebrows when she listens. The following is a conclusion about the dangers of sleepless nights and the benefits of cozy home evenings with your wife and children. Elizabeth must understand that this Broder is the most intelligent and tiring of all the girls.

Elizabeth is an extremely silent woman, her life and interests belong entirely to the family. Karl always felt that he could not unravel the soul of his wife, and he did not strive for it, he only allowed himself to bliss under the "warm rays of her love." That night, Elizabeth realizes that her husband fell in love, which is what he says in his face. She immediately notices in it some changes that are noticeable only to her, and vaguely feels ready to violate marital fidelity.

Karl disappoints the maid of honor Broder as a man and boss, not matching her perceptions of him. She always expects more from people than they can give. Broder read all of Erp's library articles published in the press, and has long respected him as a professional. And he comes to her with a bottle, the same as all men, arrogant and, apparently, with one desire - to sleep with her.

In the morning, Earp writes to the girl a letter No. 1 - an evil, “agitational” letter from a party member (Earp is a member of the SED) to a non-partisan one who should know that socialist morality does not require a vow of chastity. Broder finds the letter without stamp and postmark in his inbox and understands what is happening to him.

One evening, when Earp is sitting at Broder, colleague Hasler comes to his house and stays talking with Elizabeth almost until he returns in the morning. A colleague is concerned about moral standards, since Krach has already started gossiping in the library. Hasler learns a lot from Elizabeth and feels that her adaptation and humility are the foundation on which many families are based.

This time, a decisive conversation takes place between the spouses. Carl is trying to put his blame on his wife’s shoulders: he married her, not loving, because she wanted it. After such a false statement, Elizabeth decides to divorce, although Karl does not insist on it at all. His wife's behavior is again a mystery to him. Library staff discuss among themselves the affair of the director with a subordinate. Krach intends to complain "on instances." One employee, a large scholar, calls Erpa the “Buridan donkey,” described as far back as the Middle Ages. That donkey died after much deliberation about which of the two identical fragrant haystacks he should prefer.

Carl spends Christmas night at the maid of honor, this is the first real night of their love. The next day he moves to her with two suitcases.

The first joint day is filled with discoveries for both. Broder discovers that "giant love" is turning into "dwarf" fear for his reputation. Karl learns that the neighbors call his beloved “little sparrow,” and also that she is used to deciding everything herself.

Hasler expects Erp to make a decisive announcement about creating a new family. But he is silent, and then Hasler himself formulates the conditions - an immediate divorce with the transfer of one of the two to another library.

In the wretched atmosphere of the house, Broder Earp is truly suffering. Noises of neighbors are heard all night, mice and rats are busy in the attic, from four o'clock in the morning the walls are shaking from the crash of the printing house, it’s unusual to sleep on an air mattress. Insomnia tormented him, he was exhausted from self-pity. Vorobyshek takes a washstand for a long time in the ice kitchen, then prepares unprotected coffee and eats for the breakfast a foul-smelling sausage instead of marmalade. Leaving for work, she leaves the bed untidy until the evening - for "airing" - how can he return to such a room?

Karl constantly attacks his beloved, while she only defends herself, defends herself from the remnants (as it seems to her) of male love of power. But she is not annoyed, because she suffers only from him, and he - both from her and from the environment. She offers him to go to work in the village together, but he knows how “she” is attached to Berlin.

Gradually Broder embraced the fear that for Karl's love difficulties were beyond his power.

Earp visits a terminally ill father, a former teacher in those parts, in the village. He shares with him a change in his personal life and sees that his father is on the side of Elizabeth. The old man remarks to his son that he does not like the word “duty” and insists on happiness, and only one who has the strength to abandon it has happiness.

Time passes, and Earp never filed for divorce. Meanwhile, things with his career are perfectly settled. At the next meeting in the library, he admits that he “lives with Broder’s colleague” and intends to divorce his wife. The director considers it unfair if Broder should leave the library because she was promised a position. He takes the blame on himself and says that he will leave himself. His decision is made - this is a shock for Erp, secretly he hoped that his sacrifice would not be accepted. He comes to the Sparrow with a tragic face and an expectation of gratitude for the sacrifice he made.

At this time, a friend of Erpa from the ministry reports that he is officially offered to take a post in the same ministry in Berlin. Thus, all conflicts are finally resolved by the socialist state. But Erp does not feel much joy, because now all his decisions are devoid of a heroic halo. He restrainedly accepts the offer.

Broder does not know anything, she passes final exams at the school, after which she asks to be sent to work in the village. When she returns home and tells Erp about her decision, he is not horrified, does not ask her to take the decision back, and does not assure that he is ready to go with her anywhere, especially to her beloved province. He immediately accuses the “sparrow” of arbitrariness and takes the form of an insulted lover whom a woman wants to abandon. Erp does not inform Broder of his new appointment in Berlin and allows her to leave for voluntary exile. He remains with a “bleeding heart” - from which the stone of responsibility fell.

Earp returns to the family. As before, he tells Elizabeth about everything himself, “honestly”, “without dodges” and “no mercy” to himself, “The Golden Chain of Love” turned into “shackles” and “traps”, he had to go to a violent break.

Elizabeth takes him back to the family where fourteen years of their life together have passed. Elizabeth tells herself that she is doing this for children. During these months without a husband, she is already gaining her place in public life, having mastered a new profession for herself.

Elizabeth goes to bed with a locked door. What is this so changed woman thinking about? Nobody can know that.