Zoya Konstantinovna Ossupov is a Russian countess, a young cousin to
Tsar Nicholas II. Escaping the
Russian Revolution with her grandmother and a loyal retainer, she arrives in Paris, penniless, where she must carve a new life for herself and her loved ones. There, she joins
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Against the wishes of her grandmother, who objects to consorting with those outside her class, she meets and falls in love with American
GI Clayton Andrews. After World War I, they marry and move to America, where Zoya faces many joys and hardships in her life. She struggles through the
Great Depression and
World War II, then meets and falls for millionaire cloth merchant, Simon Hirsch, who later died in another war. == Adaptation==