The stories in this volume all revolve around the historical events and upheavals that have befallen East Prussia and its people throughout the centuries of its history. Arno Surminski depicts how the plague once arrived in Prussian Lithuania (The Plague Rider), how the negotiations for the Convention of Tauroggen in 1812 may have unfolded (In the Poscherun Mill), how people knew to help each other when the Tatars invaded East Prussia more than 350 years ago (The Tatar Lake), or what happened to the East Prussian villagers when the Cossacks invaded from the east and passed through their villages (When the Cossacks Came).