Fifteen-year-old Ilya arrives in Louisiana from Russia to spend a year as an exchange student, but he worries about his brother Vladimir back home. He and Vladimir always dreamed about escaping to America but when Ilya was chosen, Vladimir disappeared. Then, just before Ilya left, Vladimir went to prison for the murders of three local women. His host family's teen daughter, Sadie, agrees to help Ilya prove Vladimir's innocence, and in the process Ilya learns just what Vladimir has done to protect him.
