A young Soviet scientist from the 1950s, Andrey Voronin, having agreed to the Experiment, ends up in a certain City where the right to work is based on a variety of jobs. He in turn becomes a garbage collector, an investigator, an editor. He forms a circle of acquaintances: people of different nationalities and from different times who landed in the City. The turning point in the City’s development will be a test of the essence of people and the connections between them.
As the story unfolds, Andrey must reach Understanding: what the City is, what the Experiment’s meaning is, who the Mentor is, and what is located at the zero point.