In postwar Pskov, two similar robberies happen one after another. In both cases, the criminals steal paintings by a well-known artist, Shapiro, who emigrated from the USSR in the 1920s. The investigation is assigned to Pavel Zverev, head of the operations department. The detectives manage to establish that the victims of both robberies once worked together in the neurological department of the same hospital—and that the future artist Shapiro was their patient. Perhaps someone who knew this decided to collect their own set of valuable canvases… This version stayed plausible until Zverev and his operatives picked up the trail of a legendary gang that had been operating in Pskov even before the war…