The year is 1967. A series of mysterious murders of women are taking place in Leningrad. An experienced KGB major, Chuzhbin, and a police captain, Fedorov, are assigned to catch a maniac who leaves mysterious signs next to the victims.
Lisa is going through a divorce: her husband found a younger woman and left her with two preschool-age boys. Just when things begin to settle down after the breakup, Lisa receives a strange call from a woman that calls herself her aunt, despite Lisa's growing up in an orphanage and never knowing her relatives. The woman tells Lisa that her bloodline is under a curse that kills all of its offspring. The only way to escape the curse is to abandon the children. Lisa thinks it's a conspiracy her ex-husband planned to get full custody, so she throws the woman out.