In Soviet Russia the desire for freedom is also a desire for the freedom to love. Lovers live as outlaws, traitors to the collective spirit, and love is more intense when it feels like an act of resistance.

Looking back after the fall, an orphan recalls with haunting clarity the handful of fleeting moments that came to define him – furtive, thwarted passions played out under the watchful eye of Communism. Lost to introspection, he stumbles upon the truth behind the life of Dmitri Ress – for fifteen years a guest of the state – whose tragic fate embodies the unbreakable bond between love and freedom.