In the novel, the famous scientist, teacher, writer and artist Yuri Azarov shows the enormous possibilities for the comprehensive development of the individual, primarily with the help of new principles of humanistic pedagogy, of which he is one of the recognized leaders.

In this village, curiously named Black Muds, I settled for many reasons. It was here that I had an agreement to paint six paintings, a wonderful river flowed here, and here I managed to rent a wonderful apartment, the entire second floor from Anna Dmitrievna Sharipova, the widow of a general who died under the most ridiculous and very mysterious circumstances in the Chechen war.