This world is very similar to ours, despite the fact that its skies are plowed by huge airships carrying entire armies. Here, British troops mistakenly land in the north of the Russian Empire, provoking war. Napoleon Bonaparte is in a hurry to conclude an offensive alliance with Russia against Britain. The main character of the novel, lieutenant of the Polotsk infantry regiment, will have to go through many adventures. Fate will take him to the skies above Cape Trafalgar, and to the hot plains of Spain, and even to Paris. However, he emerges with honor from all the “fires and waters”, returning to his native land.