Vitaly Borisovich Shumny, a former district police officer and now an employee of a more serious agency, is tasked with investigating crimes that occur in the outback. An ordinary, unremarkable incident - an elderly woman falls down a flight of stairs and dies. Everything is quite obvious - such cases are closed quickly, adding to the statistical data written in dry and official language. This is probably exactly how everything would have happened, but to Vitaly Borisovich’s surprise the deceased woman appears to him... and begins to have strange and incomprehensible conversations. The deceased has no relatives or relatives; her only acquaintance is a neighbor living nearby. The closed and no less lonely Alexei Mitrofanovich is the last clue, perhaps, to some extent, shedding light on the tragedy, behind which there is a certain secret. But how to approach this secret, which door to enter, and where is this door located? It is difficult, incredibly difficult - the more an employee learns, the more questions arise, both because the traces lead to the past, and because he himself becomes a participant in the events - but just which ones? Gloomy and dark times, covered with the dust of history, when the Russian land once again groaned, habitually washing itself with blood and tears, when overnight children became adults, women became old women, and men became old men. When one test is replaced by another - even more terrible, since there is nothing more terrible than a war - long and bloody, when people lose their human form, and a feast occurs during the plague.