A disjunction between city and village life, between modern adaptation and the cherishing of tradition pulls a mathematician first in one direction, and then in another. Initially, the mathematician rebels against the sacrifices he has to make to further his career. He breaks off with his girlfriend and heads back to the village where he grew up -- his roots need watering. Once in the village, he starts teaching to support himself and renews his relationship with his own teacher, but even life in the village is not what he had in mind when he left the city. His father himself has decided to live and work outside the village, and the mathematician begins to experience the truth of the saying that "you can't go home again." Alienation of self and society creeps into the experience of the old schoolteacher's own father as well. The latter works in a factory in the city and finds that his fellow workers have become too apathetic or simply incapable of keeping a balance between their village roots and the hard-core reality of a modern city. As the film reaches its ending, the "green, green grass of home" has taken on new tonalities.