Pulat Akhmatov

The construction of the Vakhsh Canal, one of the largest new buildings of the first five-year plan, is underway. Two Americans are coming here under contract. A seasoned spy, Colonel Bailey, who introduced himself as the harmless traveler Mr. Murry, would later be caught red-handed and exposed. And Mr. Clark, who came to the "make money" channel, will gradually become convinced that work and politics are not such different concepts. Not accepting socialism, he quite sincerely sympathizes with the enthusiasm of the Soviet people. Love for the translator - Komsomol member Maria Polozova - helps Clark to comprehend what is happening.

About the Soviet border guards who declassified Operation Cobra, organized by foreign intelligence for the purpose of daily photographing a military facility. Participants of the "Cobra": a trained dog and an old watchman of the local hospital, Yusup. He is also the snake charmer Harun Baba, and the German spy Otto Grieg, already known from old sorties.

The story of an energetic Russian woman, Tamara Fedorovna who moved to Leninabad in the 1950s and, as a pensioner, became a trainer for a men’s soccer team and performed in the local amateur theater. Then, after three or four years, thousands of Russians would have to leave Tajikistan as would Tamara.