The disgraced oligarch Pyotr Shagarin, whose extradition the Russian authorities demand, suddenly died in Prague. Only his wife didn’t believe in his death. She was right: in front of Vadim Kravchenko and Sergey Meshchersky, who arrived in Prague to help with the funeral, Shagarin comes back to life. A week-long lethargic sleep was not without consequence for this energetic man.
For full rehabilitation, they send him to the Nevyetsky Castle in the Carpathian wilderness. The castle’s gloomy reputation is confirmed: Shagarin’s former lover falls into a ravine, and the son of his friends dies in an accident. These are murders—Kravchenko and Meshchersky are convinced. After all, Vadim—husband of Katya Petrovskaia, an employee of the police department—and his friend Sergey have more than once had to assist in investigations of crimes. As if to prove their version, in the corridors of the castle a sinister phantom begins to appear—of the Bird-Butcher, as they call this creature of evil in these parts…