The exiled settler Alexander Ilyin persuades the goldmines owner Trifon Perfilyev to sponsor the expedition dedicated to the searches of "Sannikov Land", a legendary warm land behind the Polar circle.
Inspired by actual events in the days of cold war, an escaped convict steels "Saint Luke" painting from a museum which he tries to sell to a foreign tourist. Police colonel Zorin is to save the work of art from the hands of the criminal.