The first season of the detective Series "Once Upon a Time in Rostov" is based on the notorious case of the Rostov robbers, the Tolstopyatov gang, nicknamed the "Phantomas" for their stocking masks and remarkable criminal talents. At the center of the plot is the personal drama of the gang’s leader, Vyacheslav Tolstopyatov, a sign painter and talented design engineer who, due to circumstances, radically changed his occupation. Vyacheslav assembles a group made up of members of his own family. They arm themselves with unusual homemade pistols, and for several years the newly minted gangsters keep the entire Rostov region in fear. The Tolstopyatov gang was also distinguished by the isolation from the rest of the criminal world that was carefully maintained by its leader. Law enforcement agencies have to rely exclusively on operational measures, unable to gather comprehensive information about the robbers. As a result, detectives are always late, one step behind the criminals, and this continues until influential political structures take an interest in the Rostov saga.
