Svetlana "Jessica" Sergeevna Gilkova
finds little to call her own in Russia, 1946, except "a beautiful name," which she acquired from American cinema permitted during WWII, and a fashionable dress she buys for her twentieth birthday. Head-strong yearnings dare her to aspire to become a fashion designer despite
Marxistsko-Leninskaya
teaching that a comrade's dreams are not allowed.
Captain Yuri Stanislov
recruits Jessica and her friends among others for harvesting on the nationalized farms, and soon has designs of his own on Svetlana. As threats close in on her, Jessica strives to trust the traditional faith of her parents and Abbot Konstantin against the atheism of her generation.