Mikhail Goldenkov presents the first novel in a trilogy about the war of 1654–1667 between the Principality of Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the cornerstone of history, its tragic and glorious moment. It was a time of contradictions. For whom to fight? For the Polish king against the Swedish? For the Swedish king against the Polish? Against the Moscow Tsar or with the Moscow Tsar against his own Motherland? This is the first fiction novel of Russian-language literature about the tragic war in the history of Belarus, the war of 1654–1667. The book is closest to real history, because it does not exclude, but on the contrary, reflects all the components during those dramatic events of our past. The reader will not only learn the truth about the most unknown war in history, but will also plunge into the amazing and now disappeared world in which our compatriots lived in the 17th century.