Russia in the 18th century, during the time of the peasant uprisings. The young nobleman Grinjow serves as an officer in the remote province and falls in love with Mala, the daughter of the local commander. When he saves a man’s life during a fierce snowstorm, he has no idea that it is Pugachev, the leader of the rebels, and that soon his own fate and that of his great love will be in Pugachev's hands. The Captain's Daughter (1836) is Pushkin's most famous prose work and is considered the most important precursor to Tolstoy's War and Peace.