This novel tells the story of events that begin in May 1876 in a town on the shores of the Caspian Sea. At the heart of the work is the sudden love that flares up between the young protagonist and the beautiful Margarita, a love that collides with confessional divisions and the complex questions of national identity. The author masterfully portrays the tensions between the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic communities, showing how religious differences and the new customs of “enlightened” society become barriers between the children of the same nation.