A Duma deputy and his wife were killed. Investigating a crime, Criminal Investigation Major Anatoliy Topol' is faced with an unusual phenomenon - the so-called "secret red mercury". Red mercury has all the qualities of a typical synthetic substance, but in terms of energy intensity it is many times higher than that of plutonium. By whom and for what purpose are the mysterious "weapons" being developed in the strictest secrecy? The solution to this mystery leads Anatoliy to very high spheres of power.