The nomadic soul traces the dramatic history of several generations of an upper-class family during the First World War and the Civil War in Russia. Historical events, providing a background for the narrative, are depicted not directly but rather as seismic shock waves overturning and transforming the lives of ordinary people.

Lala, Natasha, Toma. Three heroines are close friends, all from formerly affluent families stripped of their wealth and status by the Revolution and now struggling for their very survival in Soviet Russia.

Philemon and Baucis. A married couple who live to a ripe old age in idyllic love and harmony during the perestroika years. Through flashbacks to their earlier life it becomes apparent that the husband has been the commandant of a women's labor camp in the 1930's and enjoyed the confidence of Stalin himself.