New Earth is a dream come true for earthlings who left their homeland and became disillusioned with life during their wanderings around the Galaxy. The planet is inhabited by ethnic colonies. People are trying to build a civilization from scratch, but their attempts are failing. Several people disappear in a Russian colony. Ian wants to understand the situation. The head of the colony, Sveneld, and the ethnographer Berimir, and the head of the local mafia, Mikhail, are each trying to win Jan over to their side and force the investigation to go in the right direction. Unwinding the tangle of contradictory actions of the disappeared, Ian discovers the missing one by one. Some were kidnapped by Mikhail in order to eliminate competitors. Berimir forced others to hide.