1911, A graduate of the Institute of Noble Maidens, Sasha Meshcherskaya returns to a small provincial town. The well-being of her family is based on her relationship with her loving uncle, the owner of the arms factory Nikolai Shumilov. Sashenka's parents: Prince Ivan Sergeevich Meshchersky and Maria Ilyinichna dream of their daughter's early marriage, and she herself dreams of a brilliant career as an architect. Wanting to please her parents, Sasha makes new acquaintances and instantly plunges into a whirlpool of intrigue, where political interests are at stake above personal passions. Cold-blooded murders and blackmail, intricacies of conspiracies, daring provocateurs eluding detection - all this captivates the enthusiastic schoolgirl, who experiences mortal melancholy from the paucity of life prospects. Without noticing it, Sasha becomes an ideal target for terrorist hypnosis.
Twenty-year-old Elya is a student and a future ecologist. One day, Matvey, the head of a construction company, comes to her university to talk about a development plan on the site of an old forest park. Elya does not hesitate to smash his project to smithereens. Matvey is intrigued by the girl's self-confidence and uses his usual methods of influence - he simply tries to "buy" her. But Elya doesn't need a sponsor. Then Matvey, surprised by her impregnability, offers Elya a bet: seven romantic days according to his rules. If after that the girl still decides to leave, he will refuse to build a skyscraper in the forest park. She agrees when Matvey really suspends the design work. Elya sees herself as something like the heroine of the film Pretty Woman, but Matvey turns out to be not at all the person she imagined.