: A lost circus artist retains a lost dog. He begins to train the dog, but at the debut performance Kashtanka meets with the former owners and leaves with them.
Kashtanka - a young red dog, a cross between a dachshund and a mongrel - wanders down the street and tries to find his master. Its owner, the carpenter Luka Alexandrovich, has disappeared, and the animal cannot attack its trail.
When it becomes completely dark, the weeping Kashtanka falls asleep near the entrance. She wakes up from the blow of the opened door. The person who opened the door calls the dog to his home, where he feeds it and gives a small mattress for the night. So Kashtanka has a new owner.
Waking up, Kashtanka begins to explore his new home. One of the doors reveals a small room with dirty wallpaper. In this room, the dog encounters a goose and a cat. They begin to hiss at her. There is a small brawl, as a result of which Kashtanka receives a paw on the head from the cat, and a beak from the goose with a beak in the back. The disorder is terminated by a suddenly appearing host. At his command, the animals calm down and take their places.
A little later, a man returns and brings a strange thing in the form of the letter P, on the crossbar of which a bell hangs and a gun is tied.At the command of a man, the goose Ivan Ivanovitch begins to perform various tricks, which the dog is fascinated by. Then the owner calls Khavronya Ivanovna, and a black, very ugly and very good-natured pig appears in the room. The next trick called the “Egyptian pyramid” is performed by the goose together with the pig and cat Fedor Timofeevich. From this moment, Kashtanka begins to live in this room in the company of Ivan Ivanovich and Fedor Timofeevich, while the dog herself receives a new name - Aunt.
A month passes. The owner says that it is time to learn from her. He wants to make an artist out of a dog. Classes are successful, Kashtanka easily does everything that they want from her. A satisfied person celebrates the talent of his new ward.
One evening, Kashtanka tries to sleep, but then a goose cries. The owner comes, and it turns out that a horse stepped on a goose during the day. Ivan Ivanovich is dying. The death of a goose is very frustrating for a person, and tears come to his eyes. Aunt and Fyodor Timofeevich, without understanding anything, cling to the man.
One fine evening, the owner takes a dog and a cat with him. He understands that nothing is rehearsed, and is ready in advance for failure. A man brings animals to the circus, where he himself works as a clown under the pseudonym Mr. Georges. In the dressing room, he changes into a clown costume, puts the cat and dog in a suitcase and goes into the arena. The presentation begins.
Mr. Georges instructs the dog to sit down, which she does, and invites Fyodor Timofeyevich to dance, then the clown begins to play the pipe, and the dog is given the role of a singer who howls to her accompaniment. During a particularly high note among the audience, someone gasps in surprise. This is the former owner of Luka Alexandrovich with his son Fedyushka.They begin to call Kashtanka an old name, and she runs to them.
After half an hour, Kashtanka walks down the street for her old masters, from whom she smells like glue and varnish.
