Two artists - two destinies. In the past, best friends Mikhail Kamov and Alexander Kaminka meet after many years of separation in Jerusalem, and their journey begins in the underground bohemian Leningrad of the fifties of the last century, where beautiful women preach free love and even a KGB colonel becomes an ardent admirer of progressive art. One artist will become a boring conformist, while the other will retain faith in creativity and overcome boredom, proving that it is much more important to actually be than to appear. This novel is written in the spirit of Dina Rubina’s best works and has a long “aftertaste” of real high-quality prose!