1988, Kalmyk ASSR. Kirsan Ayushev, a young doctor at the children's hospital, suspects that several of his patients have HIV. Senior colleagues do not believe that this is possible, so Kirsan secretly sends samples to Moscow. When the tests confirm his correctness, scientist Dmitry Goncharov, a specialist in a little—known "exotic" disease in the USSR, joins the case. Now the fate of dozens of children and several adults — and possibly the entire country — depends on the actions of the capital's epidemiologist and provincial pediatrician.