July 1889. Klim Ardashev returns to Stavropol for the holidays. Even on the way in the carriage he learns that, due to an accident, a private-practice doctor has died. But was it really that way? A young detective didn’t expect to meet a man living under someone else’s name, a hypnotist—and even to end up in a torture room. The wheel of crimes is turning. Will the student manage to stop it?