Back in the U S S R 1992 During Gorbatchovs perestroika, Archer Sloan, a Chicago student, visits Moscow while the Soviet Union is changing from Communist to Wild West capitalist society Purely by bad luck, he becomes a pawn in a dangerous cat and mouse game for a black Madonna, a precious icon, which was stolen from Russian Orthodox clergy by the quickly rising, rich and corrupt Russian mafia, and then by a black market girl he followed just as a flirt who didnt know herself what she nicked The well connected mobsters find him and threaten his life in no time, and the US embassy isnt very helpful, worse, its also infiltrated