Aleksandr Balsanov

A re-imagination of Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s final days in power as WWII draws to a close.

In Petersburg during perestroika there are two people, Alya and Nika. She is a little funny Petersburg intellectual; he is a French architect. They cannot live without each other, but they cannot together, either in the ancient Lyon castle, or in her communal apartment inhabited by colorful neighbors. Next to Alya is her childhood friend - Mitya, whose love she does not notice. He uses Ali's ridiculous mistake and Niki's jealousy to separate them for years.

The life of Arina Alferova, an official of the regional Ministry of Health, is very prosperous: a nice apartment in the city center, a decent foreign car, morning styling, shopping trips to Moscow, jewelry, expensive shoes. After all, the head of the finance and economics department can afford something. And sometimes even more than that. Especially if your lover does business with the largest pharmaceutical company in the region. What's in return? Put a couple of signatures on the contracts. Carried away by her personal life, she does not notice what each of her signatures is worth. One day, a bitter reckoning will come too close to her — a loved one dies from fake pills. So the official decides to integrate herself into the corrupt chain in order to get to the very top — to the minister — and drown everyone.