Captain Alexei Korolev has his own room in an apartment, a job in the police force that puts food on the table, and his good health. But for the first time in a long time, Korolev is about to be truly happy: his son Yuri is coming to visit for an entire week. Shortly after Yuri’s arrival, an important man has been murdered, and Korolev is the only detective they’re willing to assign to this sensitive case. Korolev is suddenly faced with much more than just discovering a murderer’s identity; he must decide how far he’ll go to see justice served . . . and what he’s willing to do to protect his family.

It is 1937, and Captain Alexei Korolev of Criminal Investigation Division of the Moscow Militia is bound for Odessa after the suspicious suicide of a loyal young party member who supposedly had an illicit intimate relationship with the party director. 

In 1936, Stalin’s Great Terror is beginning in Moscow. In a deconsecrated church, a young woman is found dead, her mutilated body displayed on the alter for all to see. Captain Alexei Korolev investigates, and finds himself in a dark Soviet underworld.