Returning to Saint Petersburg after a long, mysterious exile, Yakovlev (played with icy intensity by Pyotr Fyodorov) makes a living as a professional duelist. For a fee, the cold-hearted, deadly marksman fights in other people's duels, leaving a trail of bodies behind him. He is a ghost in society, a weapon to be hired. His carefully constructed world of detached brutality is upended when he meets the naive young Prince Tuchov and his beautiful sister, Princess Martha. As Yakovlev navigates a web of conspiracies involving the powerful Count Beklemishev (Vladimir Mashkov), the film uncovers a series of shocking revelations about his past that tie directly to his present mission of vengeance.