St. Petersburg housewife Nadezhda Lebedeva, on behalf of a childhood friend, went to a meeting in the Hermitage, not realizing that fate was again preparing a dangerous adventure for her. The right person did not come, and Mrs. Lebedeva did not have a chance to enjoy the luxurious halls and world masterpieces. A man was kidnapped before her eyes, and, of course, Nadezhda Nikolaevna, having an adventurous character, could not stay away. Having started an independent investigation, she found herself at the center of a criminal story, the roots of which go back to the distant past, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus.