Young prince Aleksandr has to hold out against two enemies - the Horde in the east and the Teutonic order and Sweden in the west. He discovers that some boyars are plotting against him and are ready to betray Novgorod to the Swedes and the Germans to boost their trade. Meanwhile, his best friend falls under suspicion, as somebody tries to poison the young prince at his own wedding feast. Aleksandr has no way out - to defend his people against the invaders and to find the true poisoner.

Ilya lives in Moscow; Nina lives in St. Petersburg. Ilya has a beautiful wife and a daughter; Nina's husband is an artist, and they have a young son. Nina occasionally travels to Moscow to see her partners in the publishing industry. Ilya sometimes comes to St. Petersburg on business. But more often they are in the train between St. Petersburg and Moscow just to see each other. Because they have an affair.

The film intertwines the intrigues at the court of Peter III and the mysterious murders of our days that happened on the territory of the Oranienbaum Museum-Reserve. At one time, the estate was donated to Menshikov and named Oranienbaum in honor of an orange tree. According to legend, Peter I came across a greenhouse with a wonderful "orange tree" in a tub on the territory of the estate and laughed after reading the sign Oranienbaum. The estate inherited later by Peter III was completed, and under Catherine the Great a Chinese palace of amazing beauty appeared in it.

Elena Mihailovna, having worked all her life in the only school of a provincial town, lives modestly in retirement. Unexpectedly she learns of a fatal diagnosis, which can at any moment end her life. Instead of an unbearable anticipation, she resolutely begins the preparation for her own death, in order to simplify the procedure for her son. She has not seen her only son for over five years because he worrks in the capital. Oleg is constantly busy, and he does not have time for his lonely mother. At the same time with all the new problems, the heroine receives as a gift a huge carp, which changes her life.

Parable of men's promises and torments of conscience. The main character is time to finish with a drink. In the morning, a whistle suddenly appears on his neck, and an unknown girl in bed. And everything would be fine, but the wife will be any minute.