The novel tells about one of the dramatic pages of the civil war - the raid of the White Cossack cavalry under the command of General Mamontov on the red rear. The Mamontov raid, despite its surprise and success in the first days, was doomed from the very beginning. The author shows how this raid “overturns” itself, how the regular units of the corps turn into a gang of robbers. General Mamontov, the officers and soldiers of his corps are opposed in the novel by the images of the Bolsheviks - the Red commanders and the intelligence officer Shorokhov.