Ulisse, Fulvio and Domenico decide to rent an apartment together in order to live with their modest work. However the three encounter any difficulties that have forced them to always be one step away from starvation. Ulisse has to maintain his wife and daughter selling recordings of important foreign singers, Fulvio has the task of reviewing silly scandals of celebrities instead of writing articles for major artists, while Domenico must keep his wife and children going to make love with old single pensioners.

St. Petersburg, 1860. A member of the imperial family is assassinated. A few days later, the writer Fëdor Michajlovic Dostoevskij meets with Gusiev, a young man committed to a psychiatric hospital. Gusiev confesses that he took part in the terrorist plot and reveals that his fellow conspirators are planning to kill another of the Tsar’s relatives. The young man also gives Dostoevsky the address of Alexandra, their leader. The writer must find her and convince her to call off the new assassination attempt.