Under the Mountain is an eight-part television series based on the novel of the same name written by Maurice Gee, first transmitted in 1981 and produced by Television New Zealand. Many of the minor roles in this series were played by people who were at the time well known performers in New Zealand.
An artist named Nikitin, who had come to Odessa to shoot a film, was the victim of a completely brazen attack. Only the intervention of a police sergeant who happened to be passing by saved him from certain death.
Alexander Varlamov works in a special police unit that deals with the disclosure of serial murders and particularly violent crimes committed by people with mental disorders. When the usual methods do not work, and the investigation comes to a dead end, Varlamov and his group come into play. Studying the crime scene, the evidence, the results of the forensic examination, they calculate the psychotype of the maniac and try to understand his true motives. They delve into every step of the criminal, and try to guess his next step to prevent a new crime.
Meng Tianchu returns from overseas to Ming Dynasty China in search of his father and solves various difficult and at times perilous mysteries with the outwardly meek but internally resolute native adviser Duan Ping. The two of them use very different methods to solve the same cases and are constantly at odds with each other while vying for the affection of the same girl, Xia Fengyi, a butcher's daughter.
A story with fantasy elements revolves around the god of death, the ghost keeper and the judge. In helping save others from death, three ghost keepers learn the value of living.
Xiao Yi, Wu Xin, and Yin Zheng Feng are three people whose names were mistakenly put into the book of death. As a result, they are invited to become ghost keepers and tasked with helping the god of death. Once they restore the system and save everyone who has been erroneously sentenced to die, they can then be reborn.