In 1772, on Natasha Ogaryova’s name day, her father gives her an exquisite jeweled tiara. Amazed by the beauty of the thing, the girl doesn’t suspect that from now on her life will become a chain of fateful accidents and tragic events—because the secret of the ancient tiara is connected to her deceased mother. That same evening, at the ball at the Ogaryovs’, the father’s old friend appears—mysterious Count Chernyshev—who evokes in Natasha conflicting feelings: admiration and dislike. Count Mikhail begins to court the girl, drawing her into his net. But no one realizes that behind the mask of a proper, wealthy nobleman hides a completely different person—mysterious and dangerous.