Can you find happiness in the big city? The young hat maker Natascha, who lives with her grandfather in a suburb covered in winter snow, has to commute by train from the village to Moscow to deliver her creations to the extravagant Irene's hat shop. For the administration, Irene claims Natascha to be her subtenant in order to be able to have more living space. The clumsy railway official woos the lovely country girl with his ravishing smile. But she enters into a fictitious marriage with the provincial Ilya in order to get him a room in Moscow. With an apparently worthless lottery ticket, which Irene's husband gives to Natascha, the entanglements become turbulent. Boris Barnet describes the contrasts between city and country and the new living conditions in Moscow in a stylish and socially critical way. Three great acting talents, Anna Stén, Iwan Kowal-Samborski and Vladimir Fogel, form the triangle of relationships. Originally ordered as a vehicle to advertise the State Lottery, the film made the studio rich and the natural talent director Boris Barnet famous as the founder of lyrical comedy.

„Das Mädchen mit der Hutschachtel rechtfertigt Boris Barnets Ruf als Begründer der Sowjetkomödie.“ Bernard Eisenschitz

«Barnets erster Film in Alleinregie ist bereits durchdrungen von seinem Genie: ein Rohdiamant, charmant, romantisch, und eine höchst körperliche, in ihrer völligen Unvorhersehbarkeit beglückende Mischung von Melancholie und Ekstase.»  HC, Filmmuseum