In 2025, a scientist on the verge of making a major discovery related to time travel is suddenly put in peril when a rival kidnaps her young son and demands a hefty ransom: her entire research.
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.
