Nadezhda Lebedeva, a housewife from St. Petersburg, is sent by a friend from childhood to meet at the Hermitage, not realizing that fate is preparing a dangerous adventure for her again. The right person doesn’t show up, and Nadezhda Nikolaevna doesn’t even get to enjoy the luxurious halls and world masterpieces. In front of her eyes, someone is kidnapped—and, of course, because of her adventurous nature, Nadezhda Nikolaevna can’t stay on the sidelines. Starting her own investigation, she finds herself at the center of a criminal story whose roots go back to the distant past— to the reign of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus.