Almost without contact with the outside world, an international team of astronomers lives high in the mountains in a secluded observatory - and does not immediately discover that the nightmare of civil war has come to the country that gave them shelter... A common story connects the destinies of representatives of three generations of men and women - a Decembrist and the daughter of an old lighthouse keeper, a young naval officer of the Russian Empire and an elderly couple, an artist and a charming Finnish girl... In search of a missing diary, a silent journalist, an energetic captain and a strong-willed writer travel through the Caucasus and the Black Sea and find themselves in a confusing and exciting adventure history... “Constellation of the Hounds,” “Northern Tale” and “Brilliant Clouds” are three stories by Paustovsky, very different stylistically, but equally marked by the amazing sense of words and vivid imagery of one of the most talented Russian writers of the twentieth century.