A Soviet cosmonaut program where the best candidate is a vampire who can't survive daylight, forced to train in perpetual darkness while falling for the man assigned to watch her. The Cold War space race becomes the stage for something quieter: two people learning to want the same future. It's a romance that earns its weight by making you believe these two need each other to survive what comes next.

In a fictional world split between two rival superpowers, a space race decides who gets ahead. The Union of Zirnitra Republics launches the Mechtat Program to put people into orbit, and builds the isolated city of Laika 44, where cosmonaut candidates train and scientists develop the necessary technology in total secrecy. Because a dog's body differs too much from a human's, the government turns to vampires as test subjects. Lev Leps, a backup candidate who was once a leading contender, is assigned to oversee the training of Irina Luminesk, a vampire taken from her mountain home under Operation Nosferatu. Each has private reasons for wanting to reach space, and a shared love of the cosmos gradually draws them closer in this science fiction romance.