The novel tells a story of Andrzej Kmicic, a fictional Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier and noble, and shows a panorama of the Commonwealth during its historical period of the Deluge, which was a part of the Northern Wars.

The novel tells a story of Andrzej Kmicic, a fictional Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier and noble, and shows a panorama of the Commonwealth during its historical period of the Deluge, which was a part of the Northern Wars.