After five years spent abroad building up a business as something of a private investigator, the handsome, stuttering Fandorin is back in Moscow, and in for a case which entangles him with the highest echelons of Romanov royalty. Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow with three of his children for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, fated to become the last Emperor of Russia. During an afternoon stroll in the park Georgii's daughter Xenia is dragged away by bandits only to be rescued by an elegant gentleman and his Japanese sidekick. The heroes introduce themselves as Erast Petrovich Fandorin and Masa, but panic ensues when the party realizes four-year-old Mikhail has been snatched away in the confusion. A ransom letter arrives from an international criminal demanding the handover of the Count Orlov, an enormous diamond on the royal scepter. Can the gentleman detective find Mikhail in time?