Tatyana Malchenko

Eleven years ago, General Prozorov, having received an appointment, moved his family from Moscow to a small provincial town. The general has died, his adult children - daughters Olga, Maria and Irina and son Andrey, - not finding any use for themselves, and feeling lonely, dream of returning to their native Moscow. They are trying to somehow arrange their own destiny, each in its own way, but nothing comes out of it ...

When a night patrol spots a man fleeing and throwing a bag into the water, little do they know it is the first clue in a murder investigation. Around the same time, a woman is found dead in the city park, and divers soon recover the discarded bag containing a large sum of money belonging to the victim. Suspicion falls on one of her acquaintances, who admits to having argued with her—but insists he is innocent. Despite his motive and connection to the victim, he has a solid alibi, leaving investigators with a mystery to unravel.

Theft takes place in Washington, DC. Howard Knox is a well-intentioned Congressman crusading for reform. He is scheduled to make a speech in which he will expose the corrupt activities of an industrial magnate and his congressional stooges. The wealthy capitalist in question, Anthony Starkweather, along with his son-in-law and political puppet, Senator Thomas Chalmers, will do everything in their power to foil Knox's great speech and publicly disgrace him. To complicate matters, Margaret Chalmers, wife of Senator Chalmers and daughter of Starkweather, forms a friendship with Knox and begins to sympathize with his cause.