The theft of an icon from a provincial rural church could be classified as an ordinary crime. If it weren’t for the death of the capital’s experts who came for this find. The investigation has nothing to cling to - the specialists suffocated due to a faulty chimney, and in the half-extinct district there is practically no one to suspect. And the image itself does not seem to represent any material value. Yuri Ponomarev, the great-grandson of the first rector of the church, comes to the village at the request of a childhood friend who is under suspicion. Involuntarily drawn into the investigation, he is forced to admit that the events are becoming less and less amenable to rational explanation. Moreover, what is happening is mysteriously connected with the history of his family. But the main thing is that a sane person is unlikely to be able to resist the forces awakened by the thieves of the icon...