The second half of the 18th century. Russia. A young Ekaterina Alekseyevna comes to the throne—future Catherine the Great.
At the center of the story is the great statesman, a general-feld-marshal, a count and the most illustrious prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky. A powerful and contradictory man, yet talented and intelligent, unafraid to interfere in state affairs for the good of Russia.
But the novel is not only a description of all the ups and downs of the great favorite. It is also a novel about an entire era of Catherine’s rule, told through the eyes of the main hero.