As a result of a scientific experiment that got out of control and a coincidence of circumstances, our two compatriots are transported back in time, to the very beginning of 1940. One inhabits an American scientist-engineer, the second an Italian fascist. The heroes are far from young. Having lived most of their lives, they have long-established and established beliefs. The question of what to do is not before them. Independently of each other, they are trying to turn the arrows of history. To begin with, minimize the country's losses in the coming war. To the maximum, to prevent the destruction of the USSR in the future. But not everything turns out to be so simple. Their intervention in the course of history starts a process of not only positive and expected changes, but now in the new historical reality, it often happens quite the opposite. The enemies are not at all going to pose as unresponsive whipping dummies. They are actively seeking opportunities and reserves to turn the tide of the war in their favor. And the Western, so to speak, allies are not at all delighted with the unexpected strengthening of the USSR. Therefore, after some time, the course of history known to them not only changes, but turns somewhere completely “into the wrong steppe.”