Contrary to Georges Danton's famous phrase, "One cannot carry the homeland on the soles of one's boots," Russian émigrés of the "first wave" (1918–1940) managed to create a "different Russia" abroad. Various aspects of its political and social life are examined in the book by renowned expert on the history of Russian emigration, Oleg Budnitsky.

One of the book's narratives explores the fate of "Russian money" abroad: the last part of the so-called Kolchak gold, the finances of the imperial family, and the Petrograd loan (silver) treasury, which ended up in the hands of General P. N. Wrangel and became a source of funding for his army.

In another section, the author examines the émigrés' search for ways to overcome Bolshevism — from hopes for its evolution or internal disintegration to ideas of transitioning to terror. The most extensive part of the volume is devoted to the history of emigration during World War II, when some adhered to the principle "against the Bolsheviks even with the devil," even if his name was Adolf Hitler, while others believed in the transformation of Soviet power and sought reconciliation with it.

The collection also includes portraits of prominent émigré figures — diplomats, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and writers. The studies included in the book are primarily based on materials from foreign archives. Oleg Budnitsky is a professor at the Faculty of Humanities and the director of the Institute of Soviet and Post-Soviet History at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.