Episode 1

1996. A new executioner, Konstantin Volkov, is transferred from the city of Kimry to a special-regime prison in the Russian Far East. He meets his colleagues—Sasha Rybkin and Roma Savelyev—along with the local prosecutor and the prison warden. Volkov is brought up to speed on operations and shown how the penitentiary facility runs. The prison holds five inmates awaiting the death penalty. Volkov provides painkillers to the suffering "Professor"—a convict sentenced for the murder and dismemberment of five young women. His colleagues quickly come to respect the principled Kostya. Sasha is preparing for his wedding to Natasha, but tragedy strikes his fiancée after her bachelorette party.