Salyut 7, the Soviet space station, was orbiting Earth in unmanned regime. Suddenly it stops responding to signals from the Ground Control. Fall of this station, the pride of soviet science and space industry, would not only damage the image of the country, but also bring upon tragedy, probably with loss of life. Astronauts have to be sent to the station to find what caused the breakdown and prevent the catastrophe. However, nobody has ever docked an uncontrolled object in space. To this day this is the most technically complicated mission in the history of the world of space navigation.

A young writer brings a collection of short stories to a big Moscow publishing house. The manuscript stays at the office and mysteriously influences the lives of anyone who opens it and reads at least one page. There are four stories in the manuscript, and four readers whose lives are changed after reading them. The situations range from realistic to absurd to thrilling to create a rich portrait of life in contemporary Russia and showcase the thoughts, feelings and ambitions of people who live there.