A story set in the Hanseatic period, centered around the historical event of the closure of the Peterhof by Ivan III. Johan von Wittenborg, the son of the wealthy merchant Tidemann von Wittenborg, is sent to the Russian trading post in Russia, the Peterhof, to learn the merchant trade. Alongside new friends, he gains the love of a Russian maid, whom he ultimately loses in the turmoil of events following the closure of the Peterhof.