“He passed away as a young man, full of strength and vitality. Just six days short of his thirty-fourth birthday. Instead of sitting at the festive table and congratulating the birthday boy..., we - relatives, loved ones, work colleagues and neighbors, stood in the cemetery in front of the coffin. For the last time they looked at his young face, chained by death. A face on which snowflakes quietly fell and did not melt. And long after the funeral, and even today, I still can’t believe that Alexei is no more. It seems... the door will creak on its hinges and the apartment will be filled with his voice, full of joy and happiness: “Bro! Nephews! Why don’t you meet the guy?” The author tells the story of the life of a man who exchanged his life for a bottle. There are so many who stumbled and went downhill. There are those who have put their heads together and returned to normal life, but there are those who have left it forever.