An ordinary quarrel between teenagers spills over into a parent chat and leads to a serious conflict. At this time, in the hospital, the girl asks for an urgent operation, but the doctor, in fear of breaking the law, does not dare to perform it until midnight, when the girl becomes an adult. Somewhere in one of the apartments a frank story unfolds about a man who, secretly from his wife, begins to flirt with a seductive neighbor. In a neighboring house, a young guy borrows a lot of money from a businessman to play on the difference in exchange rates, but on this particular day the dollar exchange rate goes crazy. And the crazy old man, meanwhile, goes to another city to meet with the killer of his son, so that he will answer for everything. All of them are faced with the question of choosing and making difficult decisions on which their lives depend.

Unremarkable at first glance, the murders in different parts of the city lead a young investigator named Sergei into a maze of dirty old secrets. For a long time, Sergei can't understand the motives or thought process of the criminal. But one detainee gives him a good hint: the scenario of the killer's actions inexplicably resembles the plot of the cartoon "About the Silly Winky-String", which is shown on TV in the city of N. The intrigue grows, and as the murders continue, the events take on an increasingly sinister tinge.

Yakut Stepan Beresekov periodically falls into a lethargic sleep. Only a Russian, the son of a priest, Ivan Popov, can distinguish his condition from real death. But Popov is going on a long ethnographic expedition. Stepan decides to follow his savior so as not to be buried alive.