Anne Cuneo's gripping and moving novel tells the story of Paola Rouge Malatesta, who experiences days of passionate love and days of pain alongside the Prague student leader Stepán Stacek during the Prague Spring of 1968, following the murder of their mutual friend Frantisek Schwarz. Twenty-one years later, during the Velvet Revolution, Paola Rouge-Malatesta travels back to Prague. This time, it becomes a journey into the past that signifies the end of carefreeness.