Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her.
En 1885, un inventeur fou imagine une machine à déboiser qui faciliterait l'exploitation des immenses forêts de Sibérie. Pour obtenir l'approbation du tsar, l'inventeur utilise le charme d'une jeune femme, qui doit approcher un général, commandant l'école des cadets de l'armée russe et membre de la commission technique qui pourrait faire accepter le projet. C'est le début d'une terrible histoire d'amour et de déportation sur fond de mise en scène des Noces de Figaro, de Mozart, « un grand compositeur ».
An ugly duckling having undergone a remarkable change, still harbors feelings for her crush: a carefree playboy, but not before his business-focused brother has something to say about it.
A beautiful young dentist working in a tough British prison starts to become attracted to a violent inmate after the break-up of her marriage, and embarks upon an illicit affair with him, with terrible consequences for all.