Bodies covered in strange scales begin to turn up in Berezhnyansk. Local residents are convinced that a mermaid from an ancient legend has awakened, while desperate investigators ask their Moscow colleagues for assistance. As a result, Yuri Bakhtin—a serial killer specialist accustomed to trusting only logic and facts—is sent to the town. However, from the very first days, it becomes clear that this assignment will be far from ordinary. Berezhnyansk is Bakhtin’s hometown, the spot where he grew up and where his old friends and ex-wife remain. As he delves deeper into the investigation, he increasingly encounters inexplicable coincidences, and people who were once close to him begin to fall under suspicion.
