Winter Garden

After two months, Vera joins thousands of other women and returns to Leningrad. It’s now August. When she enters her apartment, her children are excited to see her and rush to her. When Leo asks where Olga is, Mama says she’s gone, a hero of the state. Mama and Vera hug silently, knowing they won’t speak of Olga again.

Vera returns to work at the library, packing valuables for transport. She learns the enemy now surrounds Leningrad, cutting it off from any supplies. Food becomes even more scarce, so Vera searches for food to keep her family alive. Her life becomes a series of air-raids and exploding bombs.

Mama trades her wedding ring and a jar of sugar for a stove to keep the family warm during the upcoming winter. Once Vera and Mama install the stove, the air-raid siren erupts. Mama takes Leo and Anya to the basement, but Vera goes to the roof. She watches a bomb land on the roof, so she uses tongs to throw it off the side of the building. Vera then uses sand to put out a fire the bomb started. She remains on the roof, frozen with fear. The All-Clear sounds, so she returns to the apartment. Leo asks her to tell a story, so Vera tells him a fairy tale about a peasant girl named Vera.

Later, Mama tells Vera it’s good for her to tell her children her story. The women then realize Baba hasn’t come home yet. They eventually learn that Baba died in the food warehouse where she works, bombed during the raid: Vera’s grandmother is gone, as is the city’s food. Summer turns to fall, and Vera continues her work at the library to earn rations for her family. Mama develops a chronic cough, and Leo and Anya are slowly starving.

The first snow falls in October, making the city beautiful again despite the ruined buildings. Corpses begin to appear around the city, frozen in place. Vera continues searching for food throughout the city and standing in line for hours for rations. Mama stays in bed, too weak to get up for more than a few minutes a day. She has visions of the dead and refuses food, allowing her grandchildren to have her share.

One morning, someone knocks on the door. Vera opens it and sees Sasha. They embrace before Sasha opens his coat to reveal ham, sausage, and honey. The children wake up and embrace their father while Vera makes a feast of ham and onions. Sasha then takes the family to a park and tells Vera about the evacuation route over the frozen Lake Ladoga. He also says he’ll get the family evacuation passes when the road is safe. Vera promises to stay alive and keep their family well.

When they return to the apartment, Vera sees the fire has gone out. Sasha rebuilds it as Vera tends to Mama. Mama tells her daughter that she waited for Sasha to return. They say their goodbyes, but Vera isn’t ready to let go. Mama dies, and Vera knows crying will do no good.

Meredith and Nina don’t know how to respond when Anya stops talking. Meredith tries to comfort her mother, but Anya tells her not to make excuses for her when she couldn’t tell her daughters she loves them. Anya asks Meredith and Nina to leave, not wanting to discuss her story until she has finished.

The ship stops at Sitka, a historic and charming Alaskan town, equal parts Russian and American. As the women tour the town, they see a Russian church and many other Russian elements, reminding Anya of her youth. After entering the church, Anya leads her daughters to an aged cemetery and looks at every grave.

They then walk to a Russian restaurant, where a woman in her sixties greets them. Her name is Stacey, and she seats them at a table overlooking the water. When she notices Anya’s Russian accent, she tells Anya she’s a special guest and she’ll take care of her. Stacey first brings them vodka and black caviar. Twenty minutes later, she returns with an assortment of Russian dishes and delicacies. As the women finish their meal, Anya apologizes to Meredith for her reaction to the play 30 years ago. Meredith says she wants the three of them to keep talking.

Anya continues to brighten as they walk through Sitka, and Meredith can’t help but stare. They watch a family taking pictures together, and Meredith realizes she loves Jeff. Nina gives her sister a cell phone so she can call him. Anya and Nina walk away, and Meredith makes the call. She tells Jeff she loves him and asks if they can start over. They continue to talk, and Meredith says she’s still figuring out what she wants.

The ship next docks at Juneau, and the three women go to the Glacier View Nursing Home. Before they enter, Anya tells her daughters she loves them. They sit in the waiting room until Maksim, Vasily’s son, arrives. He explains that he’s taken up his father’s projects, including collecting eyewitness accounts of the Siege of Leningrad. Maksim takes the women to his father’s room. Vasily can barely speak, but he welcomes Anya and her daughters, happy to see them. Anya begins her story, and Maksim starts a recorder.

Vera tells Leo that his grandmother has gone to be with Olga, causing him and Anya to cry. Sasha comforts them because Vera has no strength left. Sasha then comforts Vera, reminding her of his promise to take their family to Alaska. Sasha and Vera dress Mama in her best dress and put her on the family’s sled. They take her to the cemetery after getting her death certificate. They leave her body in an open space under a tree. When they return to the apartment, Sasha tells Vera not to give up. Sasha leaves his family the following morning.

It’s now late December, and the city is freezing to death from -20-degree temperatures. Vera and her children stay in their apartment most of the time. Leo coughs frequently and wakes slowly. Vera continues going to work and standing in line for rations, but she is so weak she can barely walk and forces herself to keep moving. Leo then develops scurvy, so Vera boils pine needles to make tea.

One morning, Vera gets up to start a fire but faints. When she wakes, she sits at her father’s desk, lights the lamp, and begins writing her life’s story. A neighbor’s son knocks on the door hours later and gives Vera wine, candy, and potatoes. His mother is dying and no longer needs it. Vera then wakes Leo, telling him they have candy.

In January, Vera takes Leo to the hospital on the sled. Anya stays behind, too cold to move. A nurse gives Vera a ration card for soup and butter and tells her where to find aspirin. When they return home, Vera cooks everything she can find, including strips of wallpaper and a leather belt. In mid-January, one of Sasha’s friends arrives with evacuation papers for January 20, fresh sausage, and a bag of nuts. Vera packs her few possessions and takes her children to the train station. When Leo begins to cry for food, Vera cuts her finger and allows her son to suck on it. She then tells her children the fairy tale. They ride the train for hours and arrive at Lake Ladoga, the start of the ice road.

Vera takes Leo and Anya to find a truck to take them across the frozen lake. She finds a driver and offers him the cloisonné butterfly and her wedding ring. He accepts the ring, calling Vera “Baba” because her hair has turned white. Vera and her children make it across the lake when the bombing starts. Vera sees Leo isn’t breathing, so she does CPR until he revives. He has a fever, and his skin is blue and covered in boils.

Anya takes her children out of the truck and finds the infirmary. An elderly man directs her to a hospital at Cherepovets and gives her four white pills. Vera and her children then walk to the train station and board the train. They stop at Cherepovets, and Vera goes straight to the hospital, begging someone to help Leo. A nurse tells her those in charge of the train won’t let him on in his condition, but she offers to help.

Leo is slightly better the next day, but the nurse encourages Vera to get on the train. She says Leo will die, but Vera can still save Anya. Vera takes Anya out of the hospital and tells her she can’t leave Leo and that Anya must get on the train. Vera then gives Anya the butterfly as she hands the little girl to a stranger on the train. Vera watches as the train disappears into the distance. She returns to the hospital, determined that her entire family will reunite in Vologda.

Leo’s cough worsens, and he struggles to breathe. Leo dies as she sings to him, and she continues to hold him into the next day. Vera forces herself to leave his body, remembering her promise to Sasha. She gets a seat on the next train and arrives in Vologda. As she steps off the train, the air-raid siren goes off. The other passengers run for cover, but Vera sees Sasha and Anya. She moves toward them when a bomb explodes, throwing them into the air.

Vera wakes in a hospital tent, surrounded by burned bodies. She realizes the explosion has caused her to go colorblind. Vera asks a man about Sasha and Anya, but he says Vera is the only survivor. She goes outside and sees what’s left of Anya’s red coat. In the coat, Vera finds the picture of Leo and Anya she sewed into the coat’s lining. Vera’s pain is unbearable, and she feels she deserves to be unhappy. Vera walks through the countryside and heads directly toward gunfire. She walks in front of the German line and tells them to shoot her.

When Anya ends her story, she stands up and stares out the window. Nina and Meredith are in shock but finally understand their mother’s strength. Anya then says the Germans took her prisoner and placed her in a work camp. Evan was one of the American soldiers who liberated her work camp years later. When Evan asked her name, she said it was Anya because she liked hearing her daughter’s name. She married Evan as a means of escape without intending to start over, but fell in love with him in the process. Nina and Meredith go to Anya and comfort her, telling her they love her. Anya says she misses her other family so much and begins to cry.

Maksim clears his throat and thanks Anya for her account. Meredith and Anya thank Nina for her persistence with the fairy tale, acknowledging that she’s the reason they are here. Maksim then asks if Anya will deliver a stack of cassette tapes to one of Vasily’s former students, Phillip Kiselev. The women agree to return to Sitka because they missed the cruise ship. Meredith thanks Vasily and Maksim, and the three women leave the nursing home.

They find rooms at a bed and breakfast in Sitka. Later Anya goes to Meredith’s room and asks to take Vasily’s tapes to Phillip now because she can’t sleep while they’re nearby. Nina, Meredith, and Anya walk the three blocks to Phillip’s house. A heavy-set man named Gerald answers the door and says Phillip is his cousin but is gone. A woman then comes to the door, and the women recognize her as Stacey from the Russian diner. Stacey welcomes them in, and Gerald asks about their connection to Vasily. Anya suddenly walks across the room to stand before the Holy Corner. Meredith tells Stacey that Anya was in Leningrad during the siege and was telling her story for his project.

The three women go to Anya and see she’s staring at a picture of a man and a woman. Stacey says the couple is her parents on their wedding day. Anya turns to look at Stacey, who drops her teacup. Stacey then gives Anya a small, jeweled butterfly. Anya drops to her knees. Stacey kneels in front of her and tells Anya her name is Anastasia Aleksovna Marchenko Koontz and that she is from Leningrad. She calls Anya “Mama” and the two embrace. Anya asks how she survived, and Stacey explains that she and Sasha woke up on a medical train headed east. They returned to Vologda to look for Anya and never stopped looking.

Stacey then leads Anya to a small garden in her backyard, similar to Anya’s winter garden at Belye Nochi. Anya reads the three granite headstones, including one for her, one for Leo, and one for Sasha, who passed away the previous year. Stacey tells her mother that Sasha waited his whole life for her return, saying he’d wait for her in the Summer Garden. Anya stands and introduces Stacey to Meredith and Nina, her sisters.

Anya writes a journal to record her life and experience as a gift to her daughters. Meredith and Jeff are planning Jillian’s wedding, and Meredith is very happy. Nina and Danny haven’t married but still travel the world together. Anya and Stacey visit often and speak in Russian as they talk about the past. It’s late December, and Anya sleeps more than she used to. She feels she’s lucky because she loves and is loved.

Anya walks into the winter garden and sees she’s back in Leningrad. She sits on the bench, and Sasha appears. He tells her they’ve waited for her, and Leo appears. Sasha then tells her to come to the Summer Garden, so Anya picks up Leo and follows Sasha, finally free from pain.