In Krasnov's future history, in Europe, socialist parties have come to power in all of the European nations, leading to an irrevocable economic decline over the course of the 20th century and by the 1990s, in the European states food is being severally rationed, technological advances have ceased, housing is in short supply and the triumph of avant-garde has led to a cultural collapse. Disenchanted with life in a declining Europe, a hardy group of the descendants of Russian emigres who have managed to keep the Russian language and culture led by a man named Korenev climb over the thistle to see what lies behind it. Korenev has a dream featuring a beautiful girl threatened by the "zmei gorynych", the gigantic, monstrous three-headed dragon of Russian mythology. The girl represents Russia while the "zmei gorynych" represents the West whose individualistic ideology that Krasnov portrayed as antithetical to Russian values. Korenev and his companions discover that in the world "behind the thistle" that the Communist regime was overthrown decades ago and was replaced with a restored monarchy. The restored monarchy has brought a return to the dress and culture of the era before the Emperor Peter the Great with the men growing long beards and wearing modified traditional costumes while the women wear the traditional sarafans and keep their hair in long braids. The ideology of the regime is based on the Official Nationality ideology of the Emperor Nicholas I, namely the triad of Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationalism while the only political party allowed is "The Family of Russian Brothers and Sisters in the name of God and the Tsar". Jews are allowed a place in Krasnov's utopia, but "they no longer have the power to rule over us nor can they hide under false Russian names to infiltrate the government". All of the Russian characters "behind the thistle" speak in a pseudo-folksy way meant to evoke the Russian of the 16th and 17th centuries.