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.

When a middle-aged man is visited by his wife’s two orthodox friends from Jerusalem, the husband finds his secular Jewish lifestyle in South Florida under attack. To clear the air between them, the two couples smoke weed.