The time of V. Usov’s book is the middle of the 16th century, the era of the reign of Ivan the Terrible in Rus'. The main place in the novel is occupied by events related to the Livonian War (1558 - 1583). Readers see the fates of real historical figures and fictional heroes; the action is transferred from the Moscow Kremlin - the residence of the Russian tsars - to ancient Pskov, which heroically withstood the siege of the troops of Stefan Batory, to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where Prince Kurbsky, who fled from the tsar, settled. Historical documents and testimonies of contemporaries are organically woven into the fascinating plot.