The film takes place in the summer of 2000. A southern city is shaken by a series of mysterious murders. It would seem that the dead are not connected with each other. The motives for the crimes are not clear. Elderly investigator Akinfiev (Valery Barinov) carefully examines all possible versions: death for debts, revenge, ritual murders... His younger colleague Rybakov (Aleksey Gorbunov) believes that crime must be fought by all available means, even breaking the law. This quality often pushes the investigators among themselves. But both of them have not yet been able to get on the trail of the elusive killer. Meanwhile, not only the prosecutor's office is concerned about the murders: the events have affected the official and shadow authorities of the city.