Sofia Bezbozhnaya was an 18-year-old student who attended a law faculty. She was in a relationship with a man about ten years older than she was. To those around her, the relationship appeared to be going well. Bezbozhnaya was also leading a second, secret life that was not visible to her family and friends. Her secret connection with a man described as a criminal is said to have led to her tragic death. The full sequence of events, including precisely how she died, has not been set out. The tragedy is framed through the gap between the ordinary life her family saw and the hidden side they did not know about.