Detectives Gurov and Kryachko from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are invited to the silver wedding of their long-time friend—a journalist from a small Siberian town. The fun of the celebration is soured the next day, when it becomes known that the journalist’s neighbor’s ten-year-old son has gone missing. The boy went to the shop and didn’t return, and there were no threats or demands for a ransom. Searches in the surrounding area yield nothing. Gurov starts studying Mar’ina’s circle and notices that some people are behaving oddly because of what happened. The detective’s suspicions are not unfounded: the worst part of this story is still ahead.