In 1990s Leningrad, a Russian man prepares to emigrate, but things don't quite go as planned—twists of fate, complex friendships, and the omnipresent KGB stand in his way.

A deputy warden gives a tour of a prison.

A series of "sketches" illustrating the perverse and horrific crimes perpetrated by soldiers during WW2.

When a Soviet state official attempts to coerce a celebrated poet into apologizing for a political joke he made, the official gets a taste of his own predatory medicine at the hand of the poet's vengeful wife.

A man imprisoned for murdering his brother drifts between his visiting wife, his memories of life outside, and his friends in prison as he struggles to find meaning in his captivity -- in everyone's captivity.

An American college student who studies Russian history heads to St. Petersburg at the the end of the Cold War and becomes attracted to her roommate's boyfriend, a former soldier. His stories, along with her interactions with other college students, add to her experience of a tentative social environment in post-war Russia.

A petulant young boy in Yugoslavia goes on vacation with his parents and his uncle and aunt. While there, he only stops complaining when his uncle tells unsettling stories about his childhood.

A Soviet soldier tasked with watching over a German atomic scientist attempts to explain the circumstances behind his mysterious escape.

After his cellmate and sexual partner leaves for parole, an inmate forms a new relationship and moves into a room with three other men, but he struggles to adapt to this new life, which involves a whole new set of expectations.

A man in a jail tells his fellow prisoners the story of a General from the Civil War who was paranoid that two brothers whom he wronged were out to kill him.