Once in Japanese captivity, Viktor Afanasyevich Spiridonov for the first time stepped onto the white square of tatami and learned the basics of the fight to which he would devote his entire life. At the same time, he met his love—destined to return to him in three guises. A noble man, he will pass through the furnace of war and revolution, find and lose his love, experience happiness and bitterness—yet he will never betray either himself or his ideals. How much more still lies ahead for him… and for now, before him, is the white square, like a sheet of paper not yet written on. Everything is only just beginning…