Following the life of Guido Baracchi, the playboy and dilettante whose love affair with Marxism and the Communist Party took him from his father's astronomical observatory to Stalin's Russia--and across the world--this story explores the life of an idealist dedicated to Communism. Entwined with political intrigue, this study includes a series of tempestuous romances with poets, artists, and playwrights as the idealist searches the world for answers to his beliefs.