The collection includes three stories. The book of Vsevolod Ivanov resurrects for the modern reader some turning points in the history of the formation and stages of development of Russian statehood in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Ivan the Third depicts the time of the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the strengthening of the power of the Moscow prince, who gathered under his hand the scattered Russian lands, small principalities and cities and laid the foundation for the European policy of the Russian centralized state. In the "Night of Tsar Peter" are given pictures of the struggle of the old boyar way against the Petrovsky reforms. The famous episode of this struggle - the clash of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich with his father - appears under Ivanov's pen in all its colorfulness and authenticity. "Empress Fike" is a documentary chronicle of the initial period of the fierce struggle that accompanied the appearance of Russia on the world stage - intrigues and conspiracies around the Russian throne. All three stories are written on specific historical material, supported by excerpts from letters, decrees, chronicles and chronicles of that time.