In a small town in the Urals, something incomprehensible begins to happen. Under mysterious circumstances, a little boy, Vanya Skvortsov, dies—and there are ominous rumors that at night he gets out of his grave and frightens late passersby. People start disappearing without a trace—not only ordinary citizens, but also law enforcers. The arrival in the town of an archaeologist, Nikolai Vsesvyatsky, who is said to have dealings with evil spirits, fuels unclear talk about blood-sucking corpses and some all-powerful Master who can wipe out the entire population. Who is this Master? A maniac, a murderer, or someone’s stupid hoax? John Smith, an American working in Russia on contract, being a true materialist, does not believe in any mysticism, considering everything to be the product of ridiculous stories about Count Dracula. But in life there is always room for a nightmare. And when it arrives, much of what John and people like him think may be turned upside down…