The son of an English father and Russian mother, Charlie Doig is a naturalist. In 1914, he's on a mission in Russian Turkestan when war breaks out. Doig has no intention of volunteering to be killed, so returns to the Pink House, his family's home near Smolensk, and to the woman he loves, his cousin...

The son of an English father and Russian mother, Charlie Doig is a naturalist. In 1914, he's on a mission in Russian Turkestan when war breaks out. Doig has no intention of volunteering to be killed, so returns to the Pink House, his family's home near Smolensk, and to the woman he loves, his cousin Elizaveta.