After his business crashes, a man disappears from his family for 11 years. But when he makes a return as their wealthy landlord, a messy reunion ensues.

Grandpa Slava is the oldest of the Midland vampire family. They live quietly. They live by the law. They live the unremarkable life of an ordinary Russian family and they never kill humans – ever. Although, of course, everyone knows they drink blood. And when some lifeless corpses are found in a birch grove near Smolensk... their peaceful life falls under threat.

Called out of retirement to settle the affairs of a friend, Smiley finds his old organization, the Circus, so overwhelmed by political considerations that it doesn't want to know what happened. He begins to follow up the clues of his friends past days, discovering that the clues lead to a high person in the Russian Secret service, and a secret important enough to kill for.