Russia, early 90s. A fictional story inspired by financier Sergey Mavrodi, his securities company "MMM", and the pyramid scheme he ran that left upwards of fifteen million investors with nothing when it crashed.
Anatoli Yefremovich Novoseltsev works in a ratings company, whose director is an unattractive and bossy woman. An old friend of his, Yuri Grigorievich Samokhvalov, who gets appointed assistant director, wants to make Novoseltsev the manager but encounters objections from Ludmila Prokopievna Kalugina, the director. Samokhvalov then advises Novoseltsev to lightly hit on the boss. Ironically, Novoseltsev and Kalugina fall in love with each other...
On their way home through an unknown city, Alexander and his father are attacked and seriously injured by some drunken juvenile delinquents. The father dies, and Alexander becomes a dangerous witness, which must be eliminated.
