When publisher and editor-in-chief Valeria Krylova beat out her rival, media magnate Akhmet Bashirov, at the awards ceremony for the best journalists of the year, she had no idea how closely their fates would bind them together. The next day, banker Sadovnikov will be killed under strange circumstances, and both heroes will fall under suspicion of committing the crime: each, according to the investigation, will have compelling motives. Moreover, everything points to the fact that the contract killer was Vasily, a friend of Valeria's close friend, writer Melissa Sinitskaya. And while Melissa and Vasily are hiding in a country house, Valeria is kidnapped. Bashirov's security guard tries to figure out the crime.