The characters are real historical figures. Actions and events are authentic. Maximilian Vasmer is a brilliant student at St. Petersburg University. Professor Ivan Baudouin de Courtenay introduces him to his daughter Cesaria. She becomes Max's wife. Parallel to the plot there are scientific debates about the past and present of Russia, about its baptism, the Varangians and Rurik, about the history of Crimea, about dark places in the Bible and linguistics. The War of 1914 arouses anti-German sentiment and forces Vasmer to flee. He is hiding in his historical homeland. In 1939 he published a monograph in which he claims that many place names in Germany have Slavic roots. This infuriates Joseph Goebbels. He orders Vasmer to write an etymological dictionary of the Russian language, classifying Russians as “second class”. Part of the dictionary is written in a concentration camp. At the same time, there is a love story: a young student and an old professor. The work has a patriotic orientation and is aimed at an intellectual audience.