Investigator Sergei Smirnov, must return to the city of his childhood to investigate some high-profile murders. In Crystal city, there is a maniacal pedophile on the loose. Not only does he torture and kill children, he does it in a devious, brutal way. Sergei is the best in his field, so he entrusted with the investigation. Sergei has a complex character; the hero has obviously been through a lot, and his most terrible secrets are buried here, in Crystal city, where Sergei was born and raised.

In the Far Eastern village of Chernovka, surrounded by taiga and swamps, an emergency occurs: a sawmill burns down, and in the morning bodies are found there, burned beyond recognition. A young investigator, Evgenia Rakitina, arrives from the district center. The local authorities and the villagers themselves are trying in every possible way to hush up the case, writing everything off as an accident, but Evgenia's professional instinct tells her that something is wrong here. And the deeper the heroine delves into this matter, the more she realizes that the people here are not only related to each other. Comparing the testimony of witnesses, she concludes that she will have to look for the solution to the mystery in the past.…