In a nostalgic Moscow of 1976, an unlucky actor meets a charismatic writer, a living classic of Soviet literature, who turns his life into a tragicomic farce with the artistic bohemia, foreign-currency prostitutes, the KGB staff and agents of the CIA.
Nurick and Yaroslav are trying to robe a criminal boss. Unfortunately Nurick dies but returns to the world with a mission: to be the guardian angel of Yaroslav.
Max Andreev thought the best place to start a new life would be at the other end of the world. What he didn't know, is that you can't outrun your past.
A beautiful and kind girl, daughter of Baba Yaga, finds a magical stone Alatyr while walking in a field. It transforms her heart into a stone and puts her under a queer curse. She is to be the evil Countess of Stones and live in a stone tower. If the greatest gem-cutter in the world brings the stone of Alatyr to life, though, she'll become the ruler of the world. The Stone Countess, now cruel and selfish, is fascinated with the idea. She starts searching for the best gem-cutters and forces them to work with Alatyr, so the magical stone would become a living thing. Neither of the gem-cutters succeeds, so she kills them. While being imprisoned in her tower, they work on a large book about the secrets of gem-cutting. Each of them edits the book, so it's later named "the Book of Masters".
Top astrophysicist Sasha Greenberg has spent the past 17 years working in the United States. An invitation to speak at a Congress on Cosmology in his native Moscow brings him home for the first time to confront colleagues, and unanswered personal questions. As Russia undergoes perestroika, public and private lives are radically re-assessed and Sasha sees the social and sexual upheavals as a crisis
