Russia in the early years of the coming century, at the end of
a savage civil war. Newly arrived in Moscow, Inspector
Constantin Vadim is assigned to investigate a series of
horrifying murders by an elusive killer the people call the
Monstrum.

But Constantin is neither professionally nor personally the
ideal man for the task. He is a provincial policeman who has
never investigated a homicide - and a fatal attraction to
strong women threatens chaos in his personal life.

Yet he does not lack a certain kind of courage. Against all
odds, he pursues his investigation as it carries him through
Moscow's kaleidoscopic world of privilege and poverty, sex
cults and sinister politics to a place where the evils of
Russia's past and present meet.