Corrupt officials, in conjunction with notorious bandits, cut down and sell centuries-old taiga forest abroad, leaving in place of the taiga an endless snowy desert, but when local residents and old-time hunters rebel against lawlessness, the highest echelons of power are involved in the confrontation. Modern Russian prose writer Evgeniy Kalachev was born in Novosibirsk, grew up in Tuva, received higher education in Omsk, hunted fur-bearing animals in the taiga as part of a hunting team, and served as an detective in the criminal investigation department. The book includes detective and adventure stories about the formation of personality, about complex relationships between people, about Russian people and their difficult life.