The Popular Front wins elections, the Spanish Civil War begins, and Hitler and Stalin are manipulating and spying. The brilliant exile, Fiodor Voronin, a general at 20, is the deputy at the White Russian Military Union, probably slated to replace the aging Général Dobrinsky soon. Fiodor's Greek wife, Arsinoé, paints and stays away from politics, befriending Communist neighbors. Her health declines; the attentive Fiodor arranges care and, against the backdrop of Stalin's Great Purge, considers his options. He plays a chess game in which love of country, love of Arsinoé, ideology, petty jealousies, and the machinations of power roil in matters of life and death.

Katerina Didaskalou
as Arsinoé

Serge Renko
as Fiodor

Cyrielle Clair
as Maguy

Grigori Manoukov
as Boris

Dimitri Rafalsky
as général Dobrinsky

Nathalia Krougly
as la Générale

Amanda Langlet
as Janine

Emmanuel Salinger
as André

Vitaliy Cheremet
as Alexis Tcherepnine

Jeanne Rambur
as Dany