The main character, an official of the 14th grade, Erast Petrovich Fandorin, serves as a clerk in the Detective Department and secretly dreams of becoming a detective. By the will of circumstances, he finds himself involved in the investigation of a mysterious suicide.

An old Russian grandmother or "babushka", who took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, sacrificed everything for her children and even sold her house to get money for her grandchildren, is shuttled among those very grandchildren--products of the "new" Russia--none of whom want her to stay with them since she's too much of a "burden" for them.

Russia, 1736. The sixth year of Anna Ioannovna's reign. To strengthen the family of her female ancestors, the Miloslavskys, the Empress bequeaths the throne to the future son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna. There has never been such a thing in history that a non-existent child has become the heir. Meanwhile, for the sake of a worthy military alliance with Austria, the Empress trains Anna Leopoldovna and Anton Ulrich, Duke of Brauschweig. The mother of the future heir does not like the groom, and this is used by Peter, the offspring of Biron, and the Saxon envoy Moritz. The hunt for the princess begins between these two knights.

Based on Valentin Rasputin's story of the same title. The winter of 1945. In a village on the Angara embankment the women wait the return of their husbands from the front. The young soldier Andrei Guskov, who fled from the hospital, returns as a deserter. In his remote winter hut only his wife Nastena visits him : she is the only person whom he can trust with his life - of an eternal fugitive doomed to loneliness. Only she loves him. She lives in the present, remembers the past and does not believe in the future. She will have a child, and to the entire village she is an unfaithful wife who did not wait for her husband to return...

Russia, 1736. The sixth year of Anna Ioannovna's reign. To strengthen the family of her female ancestors, the Miloslavskys, the Empress bequeaths the throne to the future son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna. There has never been such a thing in history that a non-existent child has become the heir. Meanwhile, for the sake of a worthy military alliance with Austria, the Empress trains Anna Leopoldovna and Anton Ulrich, Duke of Brauschweig. The mother of the future heir does not like the groom, and this is used by Peter, the offspring of Biron, and the Saxon envoy Moritz. The hunt for the princess begins between these two knights.

The action of the famous play about the inhabitants of the flophouse has been transferred to our days. The heroes live in a landfill, look for something to sell in the mountains of garbage, steal and drink. One day, Luka appears at the dump, who tries to comfort these people who have sunk to the bottom of their lives.

Vlad, who works in a reputable company, has everything in order: a good apartment, a high salary, a beautiful bride. But literally on the eve of the wedding, his bride suddenly begins to do everything to make Vlad jealous. On the advice of a friend, Vlad answers her in kind: he orders Katya, an escort girl, and flies with her to Sochi. But during the vacation it turns out that Katya is not at all like the girls of her profession. Vlad saw a tender and trembling soul in her. And now the choice of a bride for him is not as obvious as it was before. He will have to make the final choice on the wedding day...