Once they were young, full of grandiose ideas, and the meaning of life was seen in the cleansing of humanity from filth in the fire of revolution... But evil is invulnerable if it resides in a reliable refuge - in the human consciousness, in the soul. And the sum of misfortunes will not decrease while it dwells there. Without a revolution in the inner world, no matter how long, all gigantic plans have no meaning. The author of the novel allows the heroine to understand this when her universe has narrowed to the walls of a ward in a nursing home.