A slice of life among Russian intelligentsia on the eve of WWII. A haunting reminder of Stalin's psychotic purge of 1938 and the nightmarish German siege of Leningrad.

The protagonist spent a significant part of his life burdened by painful memories of his grandfather, who died during Stalin's repressions. And now the time has come when he could avenge his grandfather. This is one storyline, presented in the form of a flashback. The second unfolds in our time, which the author also sees as nothing good.

Scientist creates a machine that is able to clone human beings. Soon the Government wants to take hold of it for military purposes.

In 1920s Moscow, shortly after the October Revolution, a stray dog named Sharik is taken in by Professor Preobrazhensky, a wealthy and respected surgeon. The professor performs a daring medical experiment on the dog that changes him into a human being. As the newly transformed Sharikov begins to navigate life in the professor’s apartment, his crude behavior and revolutionary ideas turn the household upside down.