Drawing closely on Bulgakov`s personal experiences of the horrors of civil war as a young doctor, ” The White Guard” takes place in Kiev, 1918, a time of turmoil & suffocating uncertainty as the Bolsheviks, Socialists & Germans fight for control of the city. It tells the story of the Turbins, a once-wealthy Russian family, as they are forced to come to terms with revolution & a new regime.