American conductor John Meredith (Robert Taylor) and his manager, Hank Higgins (Robert Benchley), go to the Soviet Union shortly before the country is Operation Barbarossa. Meredith falls in love with beautiful Soviet pianist Nadya Stepanova (Susan Peters) while they travel throughout the country on a 40-city tour. Their bliss is destroyed by the German invasion.<ref name=ayn>[http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6125 Testimony before HUAC] by Ayn Rand concerning this film, including synopsis</ref>