Strikes, wars, palace intrigues—what’s an imperial couple to do? When Nikolai and Aleksandra’s beloved faith healer is slain, they must go it alone. Their hemophiliac son’s prospects for survival are dwindling. As their trusted advisors warn them of Russia’s impending doom, Nikolai befriends a dead aviator, while Aleksandra holds seances to summon Rasputin. Their efforts to preserve the dynasty fail. As Russia lapses into a death roll, they fall victim to their own tragic incompetence.

In exile in the infamous Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia, under constant guard, and despairing of her chances for survival, the former Grand Duchess Mariia Romanova throws herself at a handsome Bolshevik guard. He begs her to run away with him but warns that he can save her alone. She's paralyzed by guilt. To be with the man she loves, she must let her family die.

Shots ring out in the infamous Ipatiev House basement. One by one the Romanovs fall, except for two of them. Aleksei is spirited off to Naukan, Russia by a half Yupik, half Appalachian shaman. Mariia’s Bolshevik beau delivers two nonfatal shots and rushes her to a convent, where the good nuns nurse her wounds. The lovers run away to Finland in a stolen Romani caravan. Later abandoned, the unfortunate girl resorts to prostitution to keep herself alive. Convinced that he’s not the only one to survive the brutal massacre, Aleksei is determined to reunite his family. He and Richard brave the Bering Sea, traverse the United States, and cross the Atlantic Ocean, but the broken sister he finds bears little resemblance to the one he knew.