Small businessman Yuri Kolokoltsev, who got into a criminal history, agrees to exchange documents with a policeman friend, and go to work as a clerk in the Ministry of Internal Affairs under his name. The friend himself is not attracted to this kind of path, he is disappointed in the profession and dreams of going to America, although his uncle, the deputy prime minister of the government, was patronized by the ministry's staff. Yuri has nowhere to go: he crashed someone else's car, injured a man, and now he faces a prison sentence. He becomes Shuvalov, moves into his apartment and takes the position offered by the service, plunging headlong into the division of property, interdepartmental showdowns, "protection" of merchants, intrigues and mutual responsibility. This is how his rapid progress on the icy career ladder begins…