In the city and its environs, churches are burning one after another. The police believe that a sect of Satanists is operating. Each time, a corpse with signs of torture is discovered in the ashes. Everything speaks of ritual murders. The authorities decide not to give the events much media coverage - before the elections, hype on such a topic is inappropriate. Fearing that the police will let the case slide, the rector of one of the burned churches, Father Sergius, asks his friend, former investigator Pavel Sedov, to conduct a private investigation. Pasha reluctantly agrees and soon discovers a strange connection between the arson, five young women and a performance staged many years ago based on the medieval book “The Hammer of the Witches”...