Investigating the death of a student, detective Ardov comes across the disgraced alchemist scientist Gorsky, who managed to comprehend the secret of gold transmutation. However, Gorsky dies under mysterious circumstances, and the mysterious formula ends up in the hands of attackers who begin to blackmail the government. They promise to easily collapse the national currency. It seems that the collapse of the Russian economy is inevitable. The Chief of Police instructs Ardov to find out whether the missing formula really makes it possible to produce cheap gold. The fate of the empire depends on the answer to this question...