The plot is tied to unusual works of art. Each of the paintings depicts a sleeping man, and the soul is enclosed in the canvas itself. This curse came to the modern world from an artist who loves his wife to madness. When she was dying, the master, by the power of his feelings, imprisoned her soul in a portrait. This legend inspired businessman Pavel Voronov to collect a collection of paintings with sleeping heroes. Photographer Kostya and art critic Agnes help him in this. The artist Alexey Tikhonov is also hunting for unusual paintings, who dreams of continuing the work of the master and learning how to enclose souls in portraits.
"У.Е." means "условная единица" in Russian or "CU" (conventional unit) in English. A conditional unit is a euphemism used in Russia to denote a monetary amount in a foreign currency (usually US dollars) or an equivalent amount of a dollar in rubles at an official or exchange rate.
The retired 50-year-old FSB colonel at his own risk and continues to investigate the case, because of which he was sent to retirement, and is drawn into a swirl of events related to the leakage of Russian capital abroad and the fight against international terrorism.
After the unsuccessful attempt on the life of Baron Wrangel and the death of an intelligence agent, a new cunning plan is being developed to implement the "Crimean Mission". The best agent, Elena Golubovskaya, is appointed to this case. In Crimea, Golubovskaya appears already as El Ferrari - a gifted Italian poet. Her task is to eliminate Wrangel in order to demoralize the white movement, as well as control the operation to steal gold. Her plans are thwarted by Maximilian Ermler, a local newspaper journalist who turns out to be a British intelligence agent.
The wife of the aircraft designer, Olga Pavlova, the head of the Moscow garment factory, and the wife of the director of the opera house, the famous Soviet opera singer Sofia Ter-Ashaturova, meet in the prison car of the train. Together they will go to Akmola camp of the wives of traitors of the Motherland, where there will be representatives of the most different strata of the population. Heroes will need strength of spirit and endurance to pass all the terrible ordeals on their way and remain human.
The year is 1967. A series of mysterious murders of women are taking place in Leningrad. An experienced KGB major, Chuzhbin, and a police captain, Fedorov, are assigned to catch a maniac who leaves mysterious signs next to the victims.