In the Far Eastern village of Chernovka, surrounded by taiga and swamps, an emergency occurs: a sawmill burns down, and in the morning, bodies charred beyond recognition are found there. A young investigator, Evgeniya Rakitina, arrives from the regional center. Local authorities and the villagers themselves are trying in every way to hush up the case, writing it off as an accident, but Evgeniya's professional instincts tell her that something is fishy here. And the deeper the heroine delves into this case, the more she understands: the people here are connected to each other by more than just family ties. Having compared the testimonies of witnesses, she concludes that she will have to look for the solution to the mystery in the past.