Gregori Andreivich Gyazin is a distant relative of the Tsar of all the Russias. He is also the Governor-General of Novaya Rossiya, the Tsar's huge colony stretching from the wind-swept Aleutian islands to the southern reaches of Alta California. From the colonial capital in Saint Helena, the city by the Golden Gate Bay, he must confront encroachments of the French and British empire in North America. To make things still worse, he also has to deal with the schemes and intrigues of the Tsar's own agents and spies. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

City By The Bay tells the story of Saint Helena from the time of its founding in 1816 to its eventual fate after the disastrous 1906 earthquake - nearly a century, most of which Prince Gregori witnesses. Robber barons, soldiers of fortune, tale-spinners, prophets and native shamans-people of all kinds pass through Saint Helena or take up residence, winning and losing fortunes in a world where revolutions never took place.