V kazhdom iz ocherkov knigi kurator i issledovatel Egor Sennikov vyhvatyvaet iz potoka istorii sudby otdelnyh lyudey: ot kogda to vsevlastnogo Lva Trotskogo do pogibshego na grazhdanskoy voyne v Ispanii letchika-belogvardeytsa Vsevoloda Marchenko, ot sozdatelnitsy «Rabochego i kolhoznitsy» Very Muhinoy do vernuvsheysya v SSSR spustya 65 let poetessy Iriny Odoevtsevoy. Vyhvatyvaet, chtoby zapechatlet mgnovennoy fotovspyshkoy, na pare stranits rasskazat, kak oboshelsya s nimi XX vek, i idti dalshe. Politiki, poety i hudozhniki, laureaty premiy i emigranty, bezhentsy i vozvraschentsy vse oni dvigalis putanymi dorogami, kotorye inogda vybirali, inogda prinimali, smiryayas s neizbezhnym. Otryvistaya, stremitelnaya kniga, gde iz razroznennyh fragmentov skladyvaetsya portret surovogo vremeni, chem to pohozhego i na segodnyashniy den.
