Far to the east, on the border between the territories of the Great Mughals and the Chinese emperor, there was an amazing country where true devotion and genuine faith reigned. For many years it was ruled by a wise and virtuous monarch, Presbyter John. One day he sent ambassadors to Europe so they could tell about him and his subjects. And to make the words of the ambassadors more believable, he gave them an invaluable manuscript presented by the wise men to the newborn Christ. Over time, many rumors and speculations arose around the manuscript, and in the end its trail was lost across the centuries.
A housewife from St. Petersburg, Nadezhda Lebedeva, believed that the story of the manuscript was nothing more than a legend—a fabrication by monks. But once she became involved in an investigation into a series of murders in city libraries, her opinion changed.