The narrative in the book is based on the biography of the famous Russian boyar of the 11th - early 12th centuries. - Yan Vyshatich. The news of the sources mentioning it leads to various topics of Old Russian history: what was the territorial-administrative structure of Russia, what was the organization of the secular elite of society and the relationship within it, who were the mysterious Old Russian smerds, how Russian Pravda acted in practice, what were the functions of the Magi.