September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.
The action takes place in our time: an exciting criminal intrigue unfolds in one of the major regional cities. In the center of it is the investigator of the prosecutor's office Paphnutiev, forced by the nature of his service to face not only the criminal elements of the city, but also the entire official city leadership.
The history of Bender's hunt for the underground millionaire Koreiko develops in the 1920s. Bright characters, adventurous adventures and a light veil of a bygone era in a new version of the classic work of Soviet literature.
