Karel Richter, writer and native of Chlumec nad Cidlinou, in his autobiography brings memories of a joyful childhood in Eastern Bohemia, of painful life during the German occupation and of the establishment of new conditions after the communist coup in 1948. He describes the everyday life of a university student in 1950s, he remembers his teachers, his first job and his career as a scientist in the Czechoslovak army.

Thanks to his profession, he had the opportunity to meet many former legionnaires, and especially members of the Czechoslovak foreign army during the Second World War - generals Karl Klapálek, Vilém Sacher and others. Much attention is paid to the events of 1968, interviews with Josef Smrkovský and other representatives of the Prague Spring, work on the memoirs of President Ludvík Svoboda and experiences from the time when the author worked as the personal secretary of cosmonaut Vladimír Remek...

The author's ambition is not only to describe his memories and experiences, but to give testimony about the changes of a difficult time, about the rise and re-suppression of the free spirit of society, and last but not least, to convey hitherto unknown personal memories of prominent personalities he met.