Alexander Korbach - a singer/composer/playwright adored by the counterculture in Moscow and reviled by the Communist powers-that-were - comes to the United States to start over and to search for new ways of pursuing his art.

No one is at the airport to meet him. Oh, well. Sasha soon discovers that he's a distant cousin of a rich American retailer with an elegant flagship store in New York. But before he can "capitalize" on this connection, Sasha has to work as a garage attendant in Santa Monica, deal with his Russian ex-wife, face down the KGB, get in bed with the KGB, and drink a goodly portion of vodka now and again (and again).