A novel in four parts, the beginning of the series of novels “Kalinov Bridge”. On its pages such historical characters as Prince Vladimir, Dobrynya, mayor Sparrow, the Supreme Magus Nightingale and other heroes of “The Tale of Bygone Years” come to life. Epic and fairy-tale characters coexist with them in the same Universe, such as Vasily Buslaev, Sadko, Volga, Kostya Novotorozhanin, Mikhail Potyk, Nikita Kozhemyaka, Mikula Selyaninovich, as well as Koschey the Immortal, Baba Yaga, Nightingale the Robber, vampires and sorcerers. The second part of the novel describes the events of the baptism of Rostov, which followed immediately after the baptism of Novgorod and with the help of the Novgorodians. Together with Prince Vladimir, they will have to found a new city on Rostov soil - Vladimir, and also face the most dangerous creature in Rus' - Koshchei the Immortal.