The action of the novel-anticipation, novel-warning is transferred to the future, to the 21st century. A progressive writer in France warns about the danger of thoughtless human intrusion into nature and disregard for its laws. By placing his heroes in the extreme circumstances of an environmental disaster, Joubert believes in the enormous resources of the human mind, which has absorbed the cultural and moral experience of past generations, uniting people in the face of disaster and allowing them to resist it.