The story to be told took place in 1847, when Alaska was still part of the Russian Empire. At that time, trade was thriving, and Russian ships often set sail to the north. On one of these vessels served 24-year-old officer Sergey Lisitsin. He diligently stood watch, but after his shift often abused alcohol. One day, having overindulged, he spoke insolently to the captain and was placed under arrest. However, Lisitsin did not calm down and began to incite the guard sailors to mutiny. Ultimately, the commander ordered him to be tied up, blindfolded, and dropped off on a deserted shore of the Sea of Okhotsk.

When Lisitsin freed himself from his bonds and removed the blindfold, he saw a ship disappearing on the horizon. The captain had left him a suitcase with clothes, three pairs of boots, a fur coat, pistols, a sabre, a dagger, sugar, tea, a pocket watch, a knife, a pood of crackers, flasks of vodka, a shaving kit, flint, and matches. All around were only snowdrifts and a desolate forest. Within a week, Lisitsin built himself a small hut, gathered firewood, and constructed a stove. At first, he survived on berries, then made a fishing rod and added fish to his diet.

The officer tried to conserve ammunition, hunting hares and small game with a homemade bow and sling. Such frugality saved his life when wolves broke into his hut, and he was able to shoot them. On another occasion, he encountered a bear in the forest, whose skin later kept him warm in the cold.

Thus, Lisitsin lived for seven months. Every day he went to the shore hoping to see a ship, but to no avail. One day he discovered fishermen lying unconscious on the shore and a wrecked ship, in the hold of which were construction tools, seeds, rifles, cows, sheep, and a ship's cannon. Together they sowed a field, renovated the bathhouse, and learned to make sour cream, butter, and cheese, turning the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk into a peasant settlement.