Russia today is a land of extremes: bitter poverty in the neglected provinces, shamelessly displayed wealth in the megacity of Moscow. A country where anger simmers and young people are in a revolutionary mood. They sympathize with the assassins of the Tsars, engage in bomb-making, or translate Slavoj Žižek. Nikita, in his early twenties, is one of them: a student from St. Petersburg who suffers from fainting spells and was with Yasja before she followed a businessman to Switzerland. He cannot overcome her loss. Since she left, he feels restless. He travels across the country, winning the trust of complete strangers with his smile, who share their lives with him on the train—stories that stir him and ultimately compel him to take action. The book is an entertaining, vividly colorful encyclopedia of life in present-day Russia.