At the center of this vast panoramic work is the genteel Gradov family. Patriarch Boris is an esteemed surgeon, his wife, Mary, a pianist, has two great passions - her family and the music of Chopin. Their elder son, Nikita, is a dashing officer in the Red Army, their younger son, Kirill, is a philosopher and devout Marxist, and their daughter, Nina, is a free-spirited poet with a dangerous tendency to speak her mind. Propelled by their loves, ambitions, and beliefs, the Gradovs cross paths with such historical figures as Joseph Stalin and head of the secret police Lavrenty Beria, who are brought unforgettably to life in these pages. As Stalin's power grows in the 1930s, the Soviet Union is plunged into a period of unprecedented intrigue, paranoia, and oppression, and the Gradovs suffer their share of tragedy. When the nation is caught up in the tidal wave of the Second World War, we follow the family through episodes of heroism and betrayal, victory and loss, on the battlefield and the home front alike.