The tragic story of the young Mary and the entire family of the Tsar's dapifer Kochubey unfolds amid the historical events. Ukrainian hetman Mazepa enjoyed the full confidence of Peter the Great and planed defecting to the Swedes side to separate Little Russia from Russia. Mazepa knew no refusal in anything. Being Kochybey's guests, he asked the hand of his daughter Maria. Kochubey indignantly refused, a quarrel broke out and eventually Maria left with Mazepa. But this was where Kochubey's troubles hav just begun. Seeking revenge on Kochubey, he invoked the Tsar's wrath on himself, now he faced the death penalty...
The opera's first night was at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1884.