The tree whose branches reach heaven must have roots that reach hell.
Daria Dmitrievna Romanovskaya, a hauntingly beautiful twenty-eight-year-old with a mane of wild black curls and porcelain skin, embodies a frail yet fierce sensuality born of a tumultuous upbringing in Kapotnya. Scarred by neglect and the brutal legacy of a family torn between the White Army and Bolsheviks, Daria's life is a dark odyssey of abandonment and loss. Her father's insanity and mother's disappearance into Moscow's underworld leave her grappling with a nervous eating disorder and a deep-seated spite. Daria's erotic worldliness masks a sadistic streak, seeing men as mere playthings in her carnal economy, yet beneath her predatory veneer lies a yearning for genuine connection, her moods swinging dangerously between tenderness and cruelty at the slightest provocation.