Viktor Gromov, once a legend of criminal Moscow, nicknamed the Butcher, has long retired and while away his days on a country farm. But one fine day, his former colleagues in a dangerous business appear on the farm and confront the fact that Vitya must overexpose the thieves' common fund in his bank account. He has to agree. But on the very day when Vitya has to return the money, he gets a blow on the head and completely forgets the password from the bank account. Fleeing from his former accomplices, Vitya finds himself thousands of kilometers from Moscow. In a small northern town called Polyarny-17...
Something did go wrong. Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small ring-like area in Eastern Europe still has electricity, and maybe even life is being reported from the Space. What military forces find outside the Ring is shocking. There are dead corpses everywhere: in stores, in cars, on roads, in hospitals and railway stations. Who or what is destroying all life on Earth? How long will the last outpost of mankind survive?