In the early 20th century, during turbulent times in Russia, a sister-in-law to Tsar Nicholas II, takes a four-year-old girl from her terminally ill mother to live in a monastery and orphanage run by nuns, 900 miles south of St. Petersburg. The Romanov relative drastically changes her life to harbor the little girl's existence and the painful secret that binds them together.

Years later, the girl's ancestry is revealed to her. With her heritage and current events thrust upon her, the girl's once sheltered life is affected by the Great War, an idealistic young man, and the Russian Revolution.

The secret burden of her lineage ultimately puts her in personal danger.