After the collapse of Czarist Russia, former White counterintelligence officer Justas Adamonis returns to his hometown in a fragment of the shattered Empire, not entirely sure what he'll find. His parents are dead, he hasn't seen his sister since she was a teenager, and Kaunas has become the political center of the emerging state of Lithuania. He's barely off the train when he's recruited back into service, this time for the nascent government eager to secure his loyalty and vast experience. Though the administration may be new, its problems are familiar, and Adamonis quickly finds himself ensnared in a dangerous web of political corruption and personal betrayal. A vivid depiction of realpolitik and a story of treachery and the enduring human capacity for love.