The novel reflects the difficult period of our history associated with the creation of the Murmansk railway and the formation of the Arctic Ocean flotilla, from which the heroic Northern Fleet was later born. The Russian cruiser Askold began military service in the Dardanelles operation, and entered the revolution with the ship of the Northern Flotilla. Most of the novel is devoted to the fight against interventionists in Murman, in Arkhangelsk, in Karelia.