Dmitry Budishchev's dream came true - he became an officer and a nobleman, and now nothing interferes with his career. He can even marry the daughter of a court banker, but he sets the condition that his future son-in-law receive recognition from his supposed father and a title. Count Bludov agrees to recognize him as his son, and the emperor approves this, but, as it turns out, it is not only terrorists who want to kill the Tsar-Liberator. Among the royal entourage there are many influential gentlemen who dream that the reforms will be stopped and history will turn back. On their orders, the police arrested the hero’s pupil Stesha, and now Budishchev is being blackmailed, demanding that he do the dirty work instead of the Narodnaya Volya. But these people don’t even know who they’ve contacted.