The book is a documentary story about the unusual fate of one of the most prominent statesmen and reformers of Russia, Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839). He, the son of a simple rural priest, was destined to find himself in the very heat of the country's political life in the first third of the 19th century, to survive unprecedented ups and downs. Speransky's personality is depicted against the background of the events of the era, in relations with emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I, prominent dignitaries, writers, Decembrists.