“Growth Pyramids” is the second part of the novel “Birch Grove.” The main heroine, successful healer Valentina Lebedeva, catches the attention of a powerful TV producer, Ada Rudol’f, among the participants of a talk show, and she invites Valentina to host a new program. Valentina isn’t ready for this, but she agrees for the sake of her adopted daughter Vika.
Vika, a former drug addict who demands constant emotional stimulation, “falls in love” with television. The new environment bombards Valentina with intrigues that are hard for her to handle. She’s ready to stop filming after the very first episode with Slava Zaitsev, but Ada strikes a deal: she arranges for Vika to study at VGIK in the middle of the year, demanding in return that the cooperation continues. The show instantly becomes popular, and Valentina can’t go anywhere without people stopping her in the streets—but Ada uses her roughly, paying her nothing.
It’s 1995; an election campaign for the State Duma is beginning. Ada Rudol’f’s interests overlap strongly with those of the former minister, now deputy Goryaev, with whom Valentina has a romance. And she finds herself caught between two fires…