President Theodore Roosevelt learns that it is the intention of Russian Tsar Nicholas II to sabotage the Portsmouth Peace Conference in 1905. In response, he sends Lieutenant Stephen Morrison on a top secret mission with British agent Sidney Reilly to kidnap the Tsar and remove him from Russia. Morrison, a complex man, who was born in Russia, is also fluent in the language and is knowledgeable in Russian political affairs.
The mission goes awry when Morrison is captured and later sentenced to death. Through a twist of fate, he assumes the identity of the leader of the infamous Potemkin mutiny and is sent to the Imperial Labor Camp on Solovetsky Island. Due to his fearless and violent nature, he catches the attention of the Bolshevik prisoners and becomes known as "Moryak" (Russian for Sailor). Upon his release from ten years in prison, Morrison is invited to join the Bolsheviks. Soon, he is able to infiltrate Lenin's inner circle working as a spy for the Allies during the Great War. Morrison's long and complex mission comes to a harrowing conclusion on the eve of the Russian civil war.
