Police colonel Lev Gurov is approached for help by a distant relative of his wife, Fyodor. Fyodor’s grandfather recently died—Makar Kruglov—and when Fyodor came to process the inheritance, he couldn’t find the valuable icon that had been kept in his grandfather’s apartment. Gurov agrees to help and travels to the town of Petrovsk. From the papers kept by Kruglov, the colonel learns that an expert examination of the icon was carried out not long ago. Gurov is stunned—apparently, this is the original Kazan Icon of the Mother of God! From other papers, the detective finds out that wherever the icon appears, a bloody trail follows it. Gurov begins to suspect that Makar Kruglov’s death is a continuation of that trail. And something tells the experienced detective that blood from this icon will spill again…