The film weaves together two stories set 30 years apart: one set in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, and one from post-Soviet Russia in the early 1990s. A young Soviet woman, Katya, lost her parents during the
Great Purge. Though she pretends to be a communist, she hates the regime and spies for the Americans. Her friend Misha is also a spy, and helps her obtain important information for the Americans. As part of her next assignment, she meets the young and good-looking Sasha, who belongs to the
Kremlin elite. Misha persuades Katya to marry Sasha in order to continue spying on him. Katya is reluctant to deceive Sasha, but decides to go through with the marriage. Gradually Sasha realises that his work at the Kremlin is worthless, and decides to defect during an official trip to the US. Sasha becomes a successful businessman in America, but never learns what happened to Katya after he defected. His niece Lauren is an artist who is invited to exhibit in Moscow in the early 1990s, where she meets Marina, a journalist. Marina helps Lauren research Katya's story, and they find Misha, who is now an alcoholic. Sasha decides to return to Moscow, and is reunited with Misha in Lauren's gallery. Misha tells them what happened to Katya thirty years ago. ==Cast==