Who is depicted in Kramskoy’s famous painting “The Stranger”? There are many different versions of the answer to this question. What secret is hidden behind the painting that hung on the wall in every second Soviet apartment? And how are the murders taking place in the present tense connected with the mysterious “Stranger” and the fatal beauty, whose beauty drove not only Count Bestuzhev and the greatest painter of his era Ivan Kramskoy, but also all St. Petersburg artists crazy?.. Is it true that the painting brings nothing but misfortune to all its owners, and why? Investigator Yegor Surzhikov has not come across such complex and intricate cases for a long time... The elusive maniac kills beauties and artists who painted their portraits, and “decorates” their bodies with black roses. It also turns out that all the murders are connected with the scandalous robbery of the Tretyakov Gallery, from where a mysterious painting recently disappeared. But instead of searching for a masterpiece, Surzhikov is forced to look for the girl who is depicted in this painting. And it doesn’t matter that the picture was painted almost two hundred years ago... The girl is quite real, and she is in mortal danger...