Politics creates history, and politics destroys it... and spares no one. Even the life of a deceased genius can become a bargaining chip in this high-stakes game... In an effort to strengthen its position on the world stage at the height of the Cold War, our country is flirting with the Russian diaspora on religious grounds and is preparing the first step towards rapprochement - the canonization of N.V. Gogol. A Soviet intelligence officer, who lived in Europe for many years, is tasked with finding and destroying secret evidence about the life of the great Russian writer in Italy. Every minute risking his life in a dangerous game where political intrigues, the struggle of foreign intelligence services, the world of intoxicating vice of the Roman aristocracy and true history are intertwined, the hero does not even suspect what mystery he is approaching. Meanwhile, the hounds have already taken his trail.