Kyiv, 1917. Seventeen-year-old Veronika Chernyakhivska transfers from a girls' school to the newly opened Second Ukrainian Gymnasium, where girls and boys study together. Spiritualist sances, fascination with Wilde, stolen paintings, mysterious cults, and investigations into mystical murders in the city suddenly become part of her life. Meanwhile, Muravyov's Red Army units are slowly approaching the Kruty station.