In the novella "Alien Sails" live and act heroes familiar to readers from the book "The Road to Grumant": helmsman Alexei Khimkov, his son Vanya Khimkov, and deckhand Stepan Sharapov. The action takes place at the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth in the city of Arkhangelsk, on the icy seas, and in the remote Karelian taiga. In the adventures of the book’s heroes, the author sought to show the struggle of the Pomors not only with the forces of the harsh northern nature, but also with predatory foreign capital, which had stretched out its hands toward the riches of the Russian North.