When Andrei Kaplan's older brother urges him to return to Moscow to care for their ailing grandmother, Andrei admits that his life in New York has pretty much fallen apart, and he packs his bags. Andrei's grandmother welcomes him into her home—given to her by Stalin—even if she can't always remember who he is. Settling in, Andrei meets a beautiful young activist named Yulia and creates a new life for himself. Over the course of the year, his grandmother's health declines and his feelings of dislocation from both Russia and America deepen. When he becomes entangled with a group of leftists, however, Andrei's politics and his allegiances are tested. "[This is a] fresh and often very funny perspective on contemporary Russia."—San Francisco Chronicle