In the 18th century, the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater in St. Petersburg lived the same way as in our time: intrigue, quarrels over roles, love affairs between young dancers. But death intervened in the love triangle. The beautiful dancer Glafira, with whom the defendant Sanka was hopelessly in love, was found dead behind the scenes, among the decorations, and next to her lay the mask in which Sanka had portrayed the “hellish ghost” the day before. A young artist in love with him, nicknamed Fedka, comes to the aid of the innocent dancer. She sees only one way to help her loved one: to pay false witnesses to avert trouble from him. But this requires money. And then Sanka unexpectedly falls in love with one of the richest beauties of the capital...