1914. A few years earlier, the Duke of Oxford had lost his beloved wife, so he now frets over his only son Conrad and tries to shield him from all kinds of dangers. But the youth is eager to serve the Crown and asks to be sent as a corporal on a mission to Sarajevo, where, right before their eyes, the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand is killed. World War I begins. After receiving a letter from a spy at the court of Emperor Nicholas II, the Oxfords, with their trusted aides, depart for Russia to liquidate Rasputin, who wields strong influence over the monarch and persuades him not to enter the war.