In 1877, the Russian Empire takes part in the harshest Russo-Turkish war. A young woman, Varvara Suvorova, a Petersburg beauty with progressive views and almost a nihilist, goes to the combat zone to her fiancé. The journey begins like a cheerful adventure—until suddenly Varvara finds herself alone in a dubious roadside inn, and random fellow travelers even play dice on her… At the front, Varvara becomes an assistant to Erast Fandorin, who is trying to find the Turkish spy in the rear of the Russian army—because of which the troops can’t take Plevna.