Plot summary

A young officer of Peter I’s First Guard, Ivan Demarin, on the instructions of the tsar, is sent to the depths of Siberia – to border Tobolsk. Here Ivan meets his first love and, together with his regiment, finds himself drawn into a conspiracy by local princes, who are hunting for Yarkand’s gold. His fortress is surrounded by hordes of wild jungars and there’s no place to wait for help .