Lavrenty Semenovich Timoshin, or simply Lavrik, is a young, promising, but very anxious candidate of sciences, who heads the biochemistry laboratory of a serious research institute and has been developing a cure for fear for several years. Mostly from his own. Lavrik is afraid of everything — scientific achievements, his mother's anger, love and reforms at the National Research University. The latter are not long in coming. The rector of the Bogomolov Institute, who has held this position for a long time, wants to give up his post to the younger generation, and Lavrik is the best candidate. But will this position be a boon for Lavrik and will it still allow him to complete his research, especially when such drastic changes go far beyond career growth?