The novel is dedicated to the heroic activities of the Chekists. In the center of the first book is a man of difficult fate, a participant in the White Guard conspiracy V. Kurbatov. After meeting with F.E. Dzerzhinsky, he accepts the ideas of the revolution and, under the leadership of the Chekist A. Dubrovin, defends its interests in the Kolchak camp and outside the Motherland. In the second book, the main character, Dubrovin's son, Nikita, meets with Kurbatov in Spain in 1938, then works in Germany. The novel ends with a story about the struggle of the Chekists in the postwar years with the agents of imperialist intelligence.