Rome, Italy, in the summer of 1978: the Krasnansky family have emigrated from Riga, Latvia, joining the other 'refuseniks' as they await passage to their new homes in the West. But when their sponsor in the USA lets them down, they find they're no longer just passing through. On the contrary - they're stuck where they are.

Two men meet on a park bench in Jerusalem: a politician, on the eve of a controversial stand against his government, and a Mossad agent, sent to dissuade him with the threat of blackmail. Neither backs down. Escaping the furore he's unleashed, the politician and his lover make for a seaside resort on the Black Sea to lie low. But the fierce battle between political principles and personal loyalties has followed them to this Russian backwater, and a shocking encounter awaits them.