Rich in local color, this is a journey through the former Soviet Union. It is also a journey through the hearts and minds of ordinary Russians, Ukrainians, and their neighbors, as they scratch out a meager living, help one another through difficulties, and openly share their optimism -- and pessimism -- about the future. Kafkaesque, hilarious, heartwarming and sometimes bloodcurdling, the events recounted here are real, seen through the eyes of an American lawyer who has studied the former Soviet Union and knows how the game of life is played there.