Alexey Anikin

Two Muscovites go on a trip to Karelia and disappear without a trace in an endless, dense forest. Each attempt to get out turns into a new threat. The forest seems to breathe, watch and does not want to let go... It becomes clear: the Forest lives by its own rules, which there is no time to understand - without food and water, the girls will not last long. In the meantime, one strange family moves into an abandoned village house. Strangers are not welcome here. After all, they used to live in the Forest.

The distant future. Earthlings help less developed civilizations overcome difficult stages of evolution. Anton, an employee of the Institute of History, goes to the medieval Arkanar to rescue scientists who can advance evolution. He will become Don Rumata of Estor, a wealthy aristocrat and lover of fights, booze and women. The main rule of progressors is not to interfere directly with the natural course of history, pointwise saving a few enlighteners from death. But Anton has a personal interest that he hid from the institute: somewhere in Arkanar, his father went missing.