Lev Leps, now vice-director of LAIKA44's training center, is raising the next generation of cosmonauts alongside vampire instructor Irina Luminesk. They soon discover that the engagement between fellow cosmonauts Mikhail and Roza is a farce concocted by the government to smother news of the space development standstill! Enraged at being pawns in a game of national pride, Lev and Irina struggle to move forward. A tragedy looming in the not-so-distant future might just push them over the brink...