A mining town in Russia at the end of the nineties. A miners' strike has paralysed the place, corruption and fraud are flourishing in the transitional period from a socialist economy to a market economy. In this world of lost souls lives Yekaterina Artemovna (Katya). This unconspicuous woman has, in the words of her future lover, a "heart of gold". The only bright spots in her lonely life in a meagre communal apartment are literature and her work in the town library. The only bright ray flashed in the life of the heroine is a visiting sailor. But he turns out to be a gigolo and leaves the poor woman. The tense string inside the heroine bursts, the iron nerves lose, and restrained Yekaterina at this point loses all patience with life and ready for the most desperate and cruel revenge...

Daria Ivanova, a graduate of the journalism faculty, works for a popular weekly magazine. Despite the obvious successes, he considers the current occupation empty and unnecessary, and therefore seeks to work in the genre of investigative journalism. One day she gets the chance. And although the girl has only very general ideas about law, she really wants to make a career, and working in a popular newspaper is an excellent launching pad. In addition, Daria has a fiance – the investigator of the city prosecutor's office Anton Nikitin. Counting on his help, Daria becomes the leading "Judicial column".