In grief over her mother's death, twelve year-old Gina vows never to dance ballet again. She oddly feels a ghostly love and encouragement from her mother, Lily, to dance. Will Gina study to be a professional ballerina? Will she conquer the stage fright she has felt in the past? Gina leaves her childhood home to live with the only family left to care for her, Uncle Gene. Months before the breakup of Russia, he accepts a job at the American Consulate in Leningrad. Uncle and niece move to Leningrad, home of the famous Kirov Ballet Academy. As tensions rise in the city and Russia nearly breaks...