The celebration of the anniversary of sculptor Leonard Ruban took place on New Year's Eve. A motley group gathered at his estate to celebrate two holidays at once. But the fun did not work out: at first the owner fell into depression and retired to his workshop. Then one of the invitees, journalist Andrei, went to a neighboring village to replenish food supplies and disappeared. The men who went in search of him found only an empty, overturned jeep. And the next day, the socialite, the beautiful Zoya, was killed, and only one of the inhabitants of the house could have done this... It was impossible to turn to the authorities for help because of the snowstorm, so the former operative, and now a philosophy teacher, Fedor took over the investigation Alekseev. He was invited under the guise of a friend by Ruban, who, as it turned out, had long feared for his life...