Returning to Moscow after three years working undercover, German Patriikeev receives an unusual assignment from his boss: to establish the reasons for the sudden suicide of a colonel of the judiciary, Arkhangelsky. When he starts investigating, he realizes that the suicide is connected to a recently captured serial maniac known as Spider. The pattern of crimes has been planned in advance, worked out down to the smallest details, and it amazes with its scale. Only the hero’s extraordinary intuition and insight give him a chance to unravel a chain of events that, at first glance, are unrelated.