The events of the story take place in Pripyat a month after the Chernobyl disaster. A film crew comes to a city abandoned by people to create a documentary. CSDF operator Konstantin Novikov, poorly understanding the true state of affairs in the territories contaminated with radiation and, succumbing to the persuasion of his high school student, takes the hooligan Zheka with him. The group is accompanied by Senior Lieutenant Klimchuk, familiar to the reader from the story “Let Pripyat Look into the Eyes.” In the dead city, Zheka will meet with other heroes of this story - Stasik, Bogdan and Romka. The story “The Bitter Herbs of Chernobyl” was first published in 1997 and is partly autobiographical. Reworked by the author for the 30th anniversary of the disaster, taking into account the technological realities of our time. On the cover of the book there is a photo collage by T. P. Chernokozinsky, on which you see authentic objects from Pripyat in 1986: the camera that was used to shoot the film, Zheka’s watch, a dosimeter, photographs of participants in the events.