It's 1934. The USSR lives brightly. The famine of 1932-33 is already over. The era of the Great Terror has not yet begun. And no one can even imagine a war approaching. It is urgent to buy equipment abroad but where to get gold and currency for industrialization? For these purposes throughout the country work Torgsins - shops for trade with foreigners - oases of prosperity and abundance, which Soviet people have not seen since pre-revolutionary times. In exchange for gold, precious stones, antiquities or currency, wealthy Soviet citizens can buy here delicacies and inaccessible imported goods. The poor come for sweets and cakes for the holiday. And the "disenfranchised", classed in the bourgeois class and deprived of food cards, carry the last rings and earrings to the Torgsin, in order not to die of hunger.
Episodes
It's 1934. Lida Sokolskaya, who is brilliantly speaking several foreign languages, moves with her brother Aleksey, an employee of the Academy of Sciences, a specialist in precious stones, from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Lida almost does not remember anything about her childhood and knows about it only from the stories of her brother. During the move, Lida finds a precious antique pendant in the things of her deceased father. Meanwhile, bandits Girya and Chinarik are scouring the city in search of an emerald jewelry collection. In the center of Moscow life is Torgsin. Torgsin's director, Viktor Serebrov, is a former officer. The dark history of the distant past prevents him from returning to the service.
Aleksey leads Lida to The Mineralogy Museum where the girl will translate the archives. Lida is depressed by the sad atmosphere and prospect of boring work. Aleksey tells Lida that the pendant is a simple bauble. But Lida feels deceit and continues her investigation. Serebrov arranges Lida as a translator to Torgsin. Lida comes to the house where she lived as a little girl and tries to find out from the local old-timer about her family who died in the fire. She is confirmed that there was a fire but there was no Dr. Sokolskiy.
Bandits Girya and Chinarik attack the priest and try to find out where the treasure is hidden. Crazy Kolya-nepman becomes a witness of a crime. Behind a brick wall, Girya and Chinarik find not what they were looking for - Lida discovers strangeness in old family photos. Her face on them is wiped - Serebrov break up with Yarovoya. He realizes that he is in love with Lida .
Girya tries to find out what the inscription "Nikita the Martyr" hides. Kolya-nepman falls under the violence. Soon the bandits begin to hunt for Lida who was seen with a precious pendant. Aleksey finds out that the pendant belongs to an ancient princely family. Lida learns that with the help of hypnosis she "recorded" false memories on top of the real ones. The girl wants to remember everything, however dangerous it may be.
Bandits attack Lida and Aleksey. Only Serebrov's intervention helps save Lida from death. The heavily wounded Girya is on the verge of life and death. Lida remembers that she is the daughter of the bloody prince Akhrubekhov. Lida is tricked and kidnapped at the solemn reception. Yarovaya prepared a cruel revenge for her.
Serebrov threatens NKVD' head Yagoda with exposing the criminal society Kabuki if he not left her and Lida alone. Yarovaya offers Yagoda a clever plan. Serebrov tells Yarovoy that prince's daughter is alive but does not remember anything about her past. Meanwhile, Lida remembers more and more. The girl understands that Serebrov is involved in the death of her family. Aleksey suggests Lida to go to Siberia and start a new life.
Lida does not dare to shoot Serebrov at the last moment. He convinces the girl that he did not kill her family. In The Museum of Mineralogy, the employee finds a photograph of Princess Akhrubekhova. Its similarity with Lida is amazing. Girya and Chinarik kidnap Lida. Serebrov and Yarovoy go to rescue the girl but unexpected betrayal changes everything .
The prince asks Aleksey for help in search of the emerald jewelry collection. The prince knows nothing about its whereabouts - it was a secret known only to women of the Akhrubekhov family. Yarovoy confesses to his wife that he hunted for jewelry for the sake of family happiness. The sale of the collection would have made them millionaires and opened the way to the West. Yagoda is preparing a reprisal for Serebrov and Lida but the arrest is out of control .
