The film is a story based on historical events about two outstanding personalities of the 20th century, Sergei Eisenstein and Isaiah Berlin, both of whom were born and spent their childhood in Riga but soon left the city. Following the course of the lives of both protagonists against the background of the dramatic events of the first half of the 20th century, the film shows how one of them became the most brilliant film director of his generation in the totalitarian USSR and the other the most brilliant thinker of his generation in liberal UK.