Late 70s. The ministerial authorities are dissatisfied with the chairman of the Severnaya gold mining artel, Lagin: he does not share money with them, but at the same time he pays large salaries to the workers. Officials are trying to discredit him in the eyes of the public, accusing him of theft and anti-Sovietism. Lagin begins to fight bureaucratic arbitrariness and seeks protection in the Kremlin. He falls into the field of view of the KGB, after which the Chekists try to draw him into political games against the Minister of the Interior.