A novel about provincial Russian life at the turn of the century and at the breakdown of man, family, and state. The main character Sergei Popsuev, a graduate of the capital's university, at the end of Gorbachev's perestroika, arrives on assignment in the regional city of Nezhinsk. Ahead of him are the nineties “dashing” years, a time filled with work, creativity, love, tossing, mysticism, victories and defeats; Popsuev often feels like Cyrano de Bergerac and performs actions dictated to him by the character of his idol.