The year 1829. Nikolay Gogol, a young Third Section clerk, is desperate: his own books seem shallow and mediocre, so he keeps buying entire print runs just to burn them all. He is suffering from violent epileptic seizures and struggles to keep on working. Investigator Yakov Guro accidentally witnesses one such fit and realizes that Gogol’s visions contain clues that could help solve actual crimes. Together, Gogol and Guro take on a particularly weird and baffling case that brings them to a small village of Dikanka, where everyone has a huge secret to hide.

The main character is an extraordinary and mysterious person, at the same time, he (Rodion Meglin) is an outstanding inspector. Rodion is used to work alone in order to keep the secrecy of his unusual method. Young graduate Esenya Steklova is eager to get the internship with the glorious investigator but she could hardly expect the challenges she would face while working with Rodion. Together they investigate the cruelest crimes that took place in the history of Russian criminality.