The film tells the story of the legendary Soviet boxer Valery Popenchenko, USSR and European champion and winner of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. His life was a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs - from his childhood in Tashkent’s Suvorov Military School and service as a border guard, to his first victories and failures, and his friendship with Dynamo sports society coach Grigory Kusikyants.
In present day St. Petersburg, police major Igor Grom, an honest and skilled cop with unconventional methods, pursues a vigilante murderer in the mask of a plague doctor.