Leaving behind an impoverished and threatened existence in 19th century anti-semitic tsarist Russia, a Jewish family make a new life and a fortune in Japan and China, in a region dominated by the struggle between the great powers, as chandlers and trusted partners of the Imperial Russian Navy prior to and during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. Upon their return to Russia they become honoured citizens of Saint Petersburg until Bolshevism drives them out again to new uncertainties in the West.
Leaving behind an impoverished and threatened existence in 19th century anti-semitic tsarist Russia, a Jewish family make a new life and a fortune in Japan and China, in a region dominated by the struggle between the great powers, as chandlers and trusted partners of the Imperial Russian Navy prior to and during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. Upon their return to Russia they become honoured citizens of Saint Petersburg until Bolshevism drives them out again to new uncertainties in the West.