Bogomilovo village, Arkhangelsk province, 1897. In Russia, a state population census is announced. In the imperial backcountry, where Old Belief flourishes, against the backdrop of preparations for this process, a series of mysterious suicidal rites of self-burial begins to unfold.
A witness to what is happening, Erast Petrovich Kuznetsov (a pseudonym under which Fandorin appears illegally in his homeland), together with a group of helpful assistants (including a former Old Believer, a psychologist, and a police warrant officer) tries to prevent a nationwide catastrophe.