The novel reflects a complex period of our history connected with the construction of the Murmansk Railway and the formation of the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean, from which the heroic Northern Fleet was later born. The Russian cruiser Askold began its combat service in the Dardanelles operation and entered the revolution as a ship of the Northern Flotilla. Most of the novel is devoted to the struggle against the interventionists in Murman, Arkhangelsk, and Karelia.