Alexandra Fyodorovna was czarina, or empress, of Russia, and the wealth and power of a huge country was hers to command. All she wanted, however, was to make her child well. Every time he had the slightest scratch or bruise, her only son, Czarevitch (Crown Prince) Alexis, bled and bled. (A bruise is actually bleeding under the skin, caused by bumping or hitting something.) Several times he almost died from such injuries. No doctor could help him.

In 1905, two years after the frail prince's birth, a wild-looking man who called himself Rasputin appeared at the Russian court. He claimed that he was a holy man and could save the crown prince. Because of that claim, the desperate Alexandra and her husband, Czar Nicholas, gave Rasputin valuable gifts. As the years went on, he gained increasing power...