The personality of Alexander II, obscured by the grandiosity of his reforms, primarily the abolition of serfdom, appears in the fullness of human features, everyday deeds and state acts. Along with the contradictory nature of the Tsar-Liberator, whose monarch's loneliness was torn apart by the bombs of the Narodnaya Volya, the book displays images of his lovers and wives, gives a gallery of living portraits of people of the imperial environment, comprehends the very nature of the supreme power. The drama of the life, glory and ingloriousness of Alexander II are shown against a wide historical background, revealed on a variety of memoirs and archival materials.