At the center of events is Lev Garin: a charismatic and attractive corrupt customs officer. "Bad" according to generally accepted concepts, but "good" within the framework of a specific intrigue. The story begins with a high-profile crime: a major businessman Plato and his wife Ariadne, who was also Leo's lover, disappeared without a trace. The protagonist is faced with a choice: to give in to the blackmailers and endanger his career, or not to give in and endanger Ariadne's life. As events unfold, the love affair between Ariadne and Leo turns out to be not just a trap, but an abyss into which the whole life of the hero falls. No longer counting on saving himself, but desperately trying to find a way to save his family, Leo seeks to understand who and for what is taking revenge on him so consistently and subtly.

Their first night is a chain of random coincidences. However, some time later, she shows up at his office under a different name and a suspiciously clean biography. And this seems to be no coincidence.

Police captain Pavel Semyonov serves in one of the residential areas of St. Petersburg. Pavel is used to breaking up drunken fights and entering drug dens alone to make another arrest. He knows that if he thinks and argues, he will simply be killed. And he is used to first acting, and then sorting it out, because he really wants to stay alive, because his wife Yulia and son Sasha are waiting for him at home. Risking his life, he saves the daughter of a businessman. In gratitude, Latyshev, the girl's father, facilitates the transfer of Pavel to Nevsky Prospekt, to the very center of the big city, where it is prestigious and profitable to serve ... And soon Pavel begins to suspect that his transfer to the Central District was carried out by Latyshev with some far-reaching plans. And when Pavel goes on the trail of a mysterious killer named Rafael, everything is completely confused. But in a difficult situation, Pavel can always rely on his friends from the sleeping area

The task force under the command of Major Oleg Sorokin is facing a dangerous and many-sided enemy. Criminal authorities from Rostov-on-Don seek to expand their circle of influence to St. Petersburg and take control of a large pharmaceutical plant. However, in the course of the investigation, a no less formidable, but much more insidious “third force”, interested in the seizure of the plant, suddenly appears.

A hospital nurse becomes an "international girl" — a prostitute who caters to foreigners with hard currency.

On the legal and moral education of youth.

A young doctor Nikolai Alexandrovich Zaostrovtsev, a fourth generation medical professional, found himself in the Gladuny village directly after the Institute. Neither he himself, nor his father, a town surgeon, expected that he would linger long their. But having become a real doctor in this working village community, he remains true to his profession without any dreams of glory or city life…

This film was Sokurov's first feature at Lenfilm, roughly based on a short story by the contemporary Soviet writer Grigory Baklanov about the transitional period from power to subordinance.