Savva Karatayev and Vadim Nizhnygorodsky are not just charismatic thrill-seekers who crisscrossed Europe in the early 20th century. In truth, they are employees of the Institute of Historical Research—sent back into the past and unable to return to their own era. Instead of carefully observing the period assigned to them, the heroes try to get rich: they place risky bets and invest in projects whose outcomes they already know in advance. But one day they inevitably cross the line of what’s permissible—they interfere in the course of history and attempt to steer events that, step by step, lead from major catastrophes to truly world-spanning ones.