1895, St. Petersburg. Anastasia Ardashnikova, one of the first women to receive a diploma from the Sorbonne Faculty of Law, returns from France to her homeland. Anastasia has extensive knowledge of advanced investigative techniques that are practically unknown in Russia and is full of hopes to become a criminologist. Not everyone understands her professional fervor. Anastasia's entourage is confident that she is engaged in an unusual business for a woman, and the first experience of a collision with the Russian detective police in the person of bailiff Taras Smolokurov reveals how far Anastasia is from domestic realities.
The place where the great poet Pushkin crafted his works. The fascist forces occupied Mikhailovskoye. Each of the local residents “follows his own path”. Some join the partisans, some collaborate with the occupiers. Among them — Sergey. A professor of literature, Frau Shiller comes to Mikhailovskoe from Germany. The front line is getting closer, and soon an order comes from Berlin to transfer all historical values out of Mikhailovskoe. Neither the partisans, nor Sergey, who’s fallen into a relationship with Frau Shiller, can allow this to happen. Sergey decides to save the country’s heritage.