A young successful businessman and art critic Sergei Gorsky comes to an exhibition of paintings by his friend, the famous artist Arthur Kornilin. Visitors are amazed by the beauty of mystical, mysterious plots and the unusual talent of the artist. Suddenly, Arthur Kornilin dies under strange circumstances, unknown persons threaten his wife Nina. Gorsky tries to find the killer, unravel the tangle of crimes, and unexpectedly he himself becomes a participant in the drama, which originates in Florence during the Medici era, the era of conspiracies and alchemy. On his way appears the strange beauty Alena, the granddaughter of a sorceress from a mysterious forest lake, where, according to legend, the Queen of Snakes lives. Passionate love, romantic adventures, bloody murders and terrible secrets - everything is in this novel.