The 15th century AD, nearly seven thousand years since the Creation of the world... The Moscow Principality, growing stronger, is appraising the wealth of its neighbors, near and far. Rus' is slowly advancing on the Urals. And in the Urals are not savage peoples; in the Urals are forest pagan principalities, an ancient taiga world, wondrous and terrifying to outsiders. Here, they do not believe in the salvation of the righteous soul; here, they pray to the stern gods of fate. Will the Orthodox cross overcome the thicket of the eternal Parma—the pine ocean? Will the stranger Jesus Christ conquer this murky universe? Will the locals become Russian? And will the Russians become locals? Alexei Ivanov's novel, 'The Heart of Parma,' is about how people and nations, finding a homeland, find their destiny.