The main character of the novel, Avdiy Kallistратов, a former seminarian, is sent on assignment by a young editorial team to the Mounkum Steppe to gather material about anarchists collecting hemp. What drives him is not only the newspaper’s assignment, but also the idea of saving the fallen and turning them back into people. Naive Avdiy perceives the world only through the “light of goodness,” and, without noticing, sometimes becomes an instrument in the hands of evil. Without understanding the role forced upon him, he begins to fight this evil—and walks again toward the scaffold.