In this memoir, architect Gary Berkovich describes life growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union, forced relocation to Siberia, and eventual emigration. The book covers World War II and the author's family, as well as the war's effects on a young teenager indoctrinated by Soviet propaganda. He recounts his education and rise as an architect, schooled in the Soviet Constructivist movement, and the concurrent evolution of his Jewish identity. Later chapters describe Siberia, an often homeless existence in 1960s Moscow, anti-Semitism, problems associated with nonconformity in the U.S.S.R., the K.G.B., and the events leading to immigration to the United States. The author's story is recounted alongside the stories of his family members and associates.