Emelyan Pugachev made not only all of Russia, but also Europe talk about himself. Some called him an impostor, an adventurer, a foreign spy, a murderer. Others considered him a people's intercessor and truth-seeker, recognizing him as the legitimate emperor Peter III. It is into this ambiguous person that our contemporary, a distant descendant of Emelyan Pugachev, finds himself in the midst of the largest peasant uprising.