A maniac is operating in a quiet village? Impossible… However, the militia keeps finding bodies of people killed in the same way. The method is so distinctive that there can be no doubt… But how does the killer manage to commit crimes practically in full view of everyone—and then vanish without a trace? Where does he hide? By what principle does he choose his victims? Nadezhda Lebedeva, an amateur detective with experience, who happened to be in the village by chance, begins her own investigation…