The film depicts a Russian writer, Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) who comes to Italy for the first time to carry out research about a fellow countryman of his, an 18th-century composer of whom over two centuries, all traces have been lost. During his stay he is struck with nostalgia for his homeland, longing for an inner home, a sense of belonging, and a clash between his personal vision of the world, and the real conditions.