Young Varya and Kirill were flying from Vladivostok to Moscow to enroll at Moscow State University, get married, and start a new life. But after the plane makes an emergency landing in Sibirsk, the frightened Varya refuses to fly any farther and stays with her aunt, while Kirill leaves alone.
Thirteen years later, Varvara lives in the same Siberian city, raises her son, and works as a research associate at the local museum. During an inventory check, she accidentally discovers an old hiding place containing an acrostic—a coded message that points the way to a legendary merchant’s treasure. At the same time, Kirill unexpectedly arrives in Sibirsk, having also picked up the trail of the very same treasure. Fate brings them together once again, forcing them to unravel the twists and turns of a historical mystery. Yet far more difficult is making sense of their own feelings and answering the questions that have accumulated over all these years.