Katie has a life that looks perfect from the outside. She heads a leading technology magazine in New York City, is married to a successful Wall Street analyst and owns a luxurious apartment on the Upper West Side. The reality is less than perfect. Every moment of her life is spent trying to meet the increasing demands of an elderly father, an exacting boss, and a driven husband. It has been years since she smiled or did her favorite thing: read a book.

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At lunch her father surprises her with a literary tour to Russia. The timing is terrible. Fearing that her father is dying, and despite a new hire who threatens her position, she agrees to go. At the airport, instead of her father, however, she finds her estranged brother, Alex, who she hasn't seen since their father's 75th birthday party.

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Katie begins a journey with her brother that will take them from Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg to Tolstoy’s childhood home, Yasnaya Polayana, south of Moscow. On the train, the siblings meet Sergei, a birdmaker, who she hasn't seen since their shared tragedy seven years ago. Her foundation is further shaken by the news that their guide, Oksana, is not who she appears to be.

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As Katie and her brother follow the footsteps of Russia’s literary giants, Katie slowly unravels not only the knot of lies she has been told her whole life, but the lies she has weaved around herself. She will discover that even harder than forgiving the people closest to her, is forgiving herself, and whether it is even possible to get another chance.