Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is currently spending an idyllic summer in his dacha together with six-year-old daughter Nadia and his youthful wife along with assorted family members and friends. Things change by Moscow, who appeals the women and little Nadia together with his matches and pianistic bravura with all the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri. However, Kotov isn't fooled: This really is actually the time of Stalin's repression, together with telephone calls in the midst of the night time spelling doom - and he knows Dmitri isn't paying a social call...