On her twentieth wedding anniversary, Nadezhda Grushina loses everything that gave meaning to her life: her businessman husband leaves her for another woman, and her grown daughter moves abroad. Nadezhda is left alone in her parents' large apartment in the center of St. Petersburg.

She doesn't know that her neighbor, municipal official Pavel Bobrov, and his lawyer have been clearing out her house for two years to turn it into a luxury hotel. Pavel hopes to make a fortune, and nothing will stop him. Now it's Nadezhda Grushina's turn...

The protagonist's storyline is closely intertwined with the city on the Neva, its residents, their stories, the white nights, and all the myths and legends that permeate St. Petersburg.