Whatever people say about the activities of antiquarians, they are first and foremost people. In their lives, there’s room for ordinary human joys. For the Shantar antiquarian Vasily Yakovlevich Smolin, whose collection contains a true treasure—not just one, but many—there comes the time to stop and think about family happiness with a young and faithful companion. But… Money and gold are not what matters most for a true antiquarian. Life is subordinated to searching—for the discovery of a secret, for solving a riddle, for restoring justice. This search is like the work of a spy: an antiquarian must always be one step ahead—of a competitor, an enemy, a traitor. Only it seems that the distance to the cherished treasure is just a dozen and a half meters of cold Shantar water. Taking the gold is a matter of technique; the harder task is not to drown in the muddy waters of life, in intrigues and the tangled schemes of the Shantar mafia.