The muddy wave of popular rebellion brought to the surface “bastards” of all sorts and stripes: some took positions in the government, some joined the police, changing the age-old rules of Russian detective work for themselves. A hereditary nobleman, detective Vikenty Petrusenko, who has been fighting the thieves' gang world for years without fear or reproach, encounters new Soviet people. It is shoulder to shoulder with them that he will have to solve the scandalous case of the theft of a collection of ancient icons that belonged to the Khristonenko sugar factory family. Not only the honor of an ancient family is at stake, but also the safety of Petrusenko’s own family, who finds himself unexpectedly close to the world of criminals...