Day after day, routine, exhausting work, empty counters, worries, husband, mother-in-law, construction. It seems that there is another, better life somewhere.

The story of a writer who accidentally stumbles across the elixir of immortality and in doing so encounters the small group of immortals who have jealously guarded this secret for centuries. Once the writer has knowledge of this elixir, called 'Mafussalin', the group of five immortals give him a stark choice: either join them, with the price of admission, being a duel to the death between the immortal who accidentally gave the secret away or death at the hands of the group. As the writer makes up his mind, sometimes aided and at other times opposed by the ever shifting alliances from within the group, we discover how the other immortals became this way, their true ages and what they have done with this 'gift'.

An old Russian grandmother or "babushka", who took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, sacrificed everything for her children and even sold her house to get money for her grandchildren, is shuttled among those very grandchildren--products of the "new" Russia--none of whom want her to stay with them since she's too much of a "burden" for them.