During the Second World War, Mario, an Italian soldier, and Katia, a young Russian girl, are both prisoners in Germany. Their meeting is love at first sight. Their passionate love gives birth to a boy, Stefano. But at the end of the war, Katia is accused of treason, forced to abandon her son, and sent to Stalin's camps; Mario, repatriated, manages to get the child back. Little Stefano grows up with his father in Italy. For 40 years, he will not know what happened to his mother; but he will always refuse to admit that this young woman, who looks at him so tenderly in a photo, left him of her own free will. During all this time, he will try to find out where she is. In vain... until the official visit to Italy of Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raïssa.
