1975. A writer preparing to publish a book about Hitler's executioner is murdered at his dacha outside Moscow. Just before his death, he manages to tell his friend, General Pyotr Somov, head of the Interior Ministry's special department for the search for war criminals, some incredible news: Lyuty, who had been presumed dead since 1944, is alive! Somov assigns the task of investigating the case to his best investigator, Colonel Yegor Sukharev. He is assisted in this by a new member of the special department, Senior Lieutenant Boris Kasyanov.