Ivan, the son of a Russian woman from a remote village in central Russia and a Black American man, is returning home after completing his military service. He learns that his father, before his death, regretted leaving his mother’s grave in New York City without a tombstone. Ivan is a hunter, and his most prized possession is his hunting rifle. He sells his rifle and travels to America to honor his American grandmother.
In New York, Ivan finds the apartment building where his father and grandmother lived. He meets neighbors who remember his father and know where his grandmother is buried. By chance, he meets a girl, Marya, who lives in the same building with her parents, a Black American man and a Russian woman. Marya works in a store, is studying to be a fashion designer, and wants to live separately from her parents and without their help. She’s persistent, determined, and detests Russians, considering them primitive, uncultured, and bent on destroying the world with their nuclear missiles. She refuses to hear of meeting Ivan again and reluctantly agrees to give him a ride to the metro station.
Gangsters threaten the owner of the store where Matya works and, to force him to pay them, take Marya hostage. Ivan learns of this from Marya’s father and, evading death by displaying unprecedented cruelty to the gangsters, frees her. Impressed by Ivan’s selflessness, Marya shows him kindness and invites him to stay in America and be her boyfriend. She believes Ivan has fallen in love with her, and that’s why he’s so selfless. Ivan doesn’t deny that he likes Marya, but he only risked his life because she needed it. The beautiful “Creole” Marya isn’t used to this attitude and bids Ivan farewell, but not for long. She finds him in his village and presents him with a choice: either she or his Russian girlfriends. If he doesn’t want to live in America, she agrees to live in his village and be a milkmaid.
What is it? Is this love, madness, or vanquished pride?