An elusive maniac is at work in the city - cruel and incomprehensible. He already has eight victims. Nikolai Gordeev, a 25-year-old private cab driver and former paratrooper, finds himself mysteriously drawn into the investigation of serial murders. In his dreams, he sees a maniac, tries to pursue him, find out where he is hiding and who will be his next victim. He is helped by his girlfriend - doctor Marina, her friend - the nationally famous psychoanalyst Pinsky, as well as investigative journalist Borodulin. In one from his “astral” travels, Gordeev meets with the Teacher, who reveals his psychic abilities and shows him the Ruby Gate (Purple Curtain), leading to the Heart of the Astral. Having penetrated there, a person will master the Force, that is, he will become like the gods and will be able to create worlds himself. With the help of Pinsky, Nikolai meets a group of science fiction writers, and then penetrates the subconscious of each of them. What he discovers there stuns him. Inside the psyche of each of the five writers, base passions, vices, and perversions rage. Any of them looks like a maniac. But the picture never becomes clearer, and the murders continue to be carried out with stubborn methodicality. The number of victims reaches the fatal figure - 13. Gradually, the heroes realize that the killer is a psychic himself, or at least an occultist. Then everything only becomes more complicated. “Private detective” Gordeev will have to face the invisible struggle of occult clans, carefully guarded secrets, and then... with himself. The denouement is coming and it is unexpected for the hunters of evil themselves.