Following the heroes of the novel, which tells about the full dangers of the service of the Ivanov brothers during the First World War, the reader is transferred to the border between Poland and East Prussia, then to the Caucasian front, then to the deck of a destroyer, then to the cramped compartment of the only submarine in Russia minelayer, then to Petrograd, seething with passions and intrigues. Exciting events unfold from the second half of 1915 to the autumn of 1916, until the death of the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the battleship Empress Maria.All this, coupled with accurate descriptions of the military and everyday realities of the Great War, gives special persuasiveness to great and small deeds, experiences and adventures of the heroes of the book.