Mikhail Lemekhov, who calls himself Michael, is forced to leave Belokamensk for a small town called Zatishye. A town on the banks of the Tishinka River, next to the Tishinsky reserve that whisperers with breathless awe call the Quiet Forest—turns out to be strange and terrifying. Dangerous thunderstorms sweep through there, from which people flee like from gunfire; they catch rotting creatures and bits of mold, and above it all rises an unprecedented house—House-on-Piles, otherwise known as the Wunderkammer.
In Zatishye, unusual people live side by side with talentless simple folk.
And Michael realizes he’s landed at a cosplay and role-playing meetup. Or maybe it’s just a terrible fairy tale with an ending that’s predetermined to be unhappy? Will the young man who lost his father and is harried by classmates find new friends and become part of the Zatishye fairy tale? Will he be able to resist, if the Quiet Forest calls and lures him, and the Rotting Prince beckons from the night, whispering: “You’re ours, ours, ours!”