In 1905 Jane Callaghan, a once beautiful American, writes to her son at a famous military academy. Her memories take us back twenty years to when she arrived in Russia to assist Douglas McCracken, an obsessive engineer who needs the Grand Duke's patronage to sponsor his invention - a massive machine to harvest the forests of Siberia.

In the course of her travels, Jane meets two men who will change her life forever. A handsome young cadet, Andrei Tolstoy, with whom she shares her passion for opera, and the powerful General Radol who is spellbound by her beauty. The General wants her hand in marriage, and she knows she can use him to gain access to the Grand Duke...