The Tavern on Pyatnitskaya 1978

In the spirit of the 1920s NEP-era Moscow, the story unfolds around the city’s best-in-class detectives from the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department (MUR) who are assembled for a high-stakes operation. Their target is a ruthless gang of repeat offenders led by Igor Rybin, known to locals as The Grey, whose lair sits in a tavern on Pyatnitskaya. This crew specializes in break-ins, robberies, and murders, turning the neighborhood into a tense chessboard of suspicion. One of their victims, the old Bolshevik Alexander Falin, becomes an unexpected ally to the police, offering historical context and inside knowledge that could crack the case wide open.

Nikolai Panin, Viktor Perevalov, a trusted MUR operative, goes undercover by joining the gang as a waiter. He introduces himself to the tavern mistress as her long-lost half-brother and adopts the alias The Red, slipping into the daily life of the criminals while gathering crucial intel from the inside. The assignment grows more complicated when a bandit from the outside camp makes a daring escape, bearing the same name Panin uses as cover—an unsettling twist that blurs the line between the hunter and the hunted.

A parallel thread weaves a romantic sub-plot: the notorious bazaar pickpocket Pashka-America, [Aleksandr Galibin], finds himself drawn to Alyonka, [Marina Dyuzheva], a country girl he once rescued. Their budding relationship adds warmth to an otherwise grim operation, reminding the investigators that humanity still glows beneath the city’s shadowed streets. The pair’s evolving bond sits against the backdrop of a city trying to rebuild after upheaval, providing a personal stake for those who hunt the gang.

The tavern’s hostess and her fiancé, the cunning The Grey, oversee the gang’s operations, and they become acutely aware of a possible leak in their information network. Inside this uneasy web, The Grey relies on Mikhail Lavrov, known as The Frenchman, [Lev Prygunov], whose keen intellect and calculated moves push the investigation forward. Alongside them, a rotating cast of suspects—first the waiter The Red, then the regular patron Gremin, and the enigmatic The Frenchman himself—keeps the tension taut as clues mount and loyalties are tested. A hint of deeper conspiracy lurks beneath the surface, with the infamous figure Mikhail Ryumin, nicknamed The Gypsy, completing the circle of intrigue even as he remains a shadowy presence.

As the plot tightens, the head of Criminal Investigation, Klimov, [Gennadi Korolkov], grows convinced that his deputy Zaitsev might be the mole. Yet the evidence isn’t there, and the audience watches the tension mount as the detectives chase false leads. A pivotal revelation shifts the balance: the real undercover agent within the police is not Ryumin the Gypsy, but Vanya Shlyonov, [Yuriy Nazarov], a figure with a history of loyalty and risk who has long operated close to the restaurant’s tangled network.

“The last ship left Constantinople without me,” a line that echoes through the clash of loyalties, is spoken as the truth hardens and motives collide—the kind of moment that marks the turning point of the investigation and the moral compass of those involved.

The confrontation reaches a fever pitch as the basement where the gang has fled is encircled by police. The Grey refuses to surrender and dies in a blistering shootout alongside Klimov, while the remaining gang members are arrested in a flurry of decisive actions. In a final twist, it is revealed that the true informant inside the operation isn’t Ryumin the Gypsy, but Lavrov the Frenchman, whose dual role as mastermind and infiltrator unravels the delicate balance between crime and law.

In the aftermath, Pashka-America and Alyonka walk away from the chaos toward her village, choosing a quiet life together after a case that tested trust, courage, and the persistence of memory in a city forever marked by its past.