美国CIA特工受命潜入俄罗斯西伯利亚的俄天然气开采公司，希望以此阻拦俄罗斯人获取廉价开采天然气的新技术。到达寒冷的目的地后，他发现周围的一切并不简单。

Two thieves, Dimon and Petya easily steal a black BMW 750 (BMW E38), and drive it to a chop shop. When they arrive, they decide to keep the BMW and have their mechanic forge new plates and serial numbers for the engine. While driving from the chop shop, a cop pulls them over and takes them to the station, where they pay a $1,000 bribe and are released. Kostya goes home to his devoted wife Nastya, who is sick of Kostya’s criminal lifestyle, and wants to leave Russia (in favour of France) for good.
Just when the couple are about to argue about emigrating again, Kostya’s cell phone rings (this movie ringtone later became a pop hit song) with a frantic call from his brother Dimon. Dimon had been driving all over the road in his white Mercedes when he nearly collided with a group of "skyless" gangsters. These heavies forced him to pull over, beat him up, and stole his car. Dimon needs Kostya and the other "brothers" help to get his car back. Lyokha and Petya track down the gang that stole their friend's car, and they barge into the gangsters' offices. When the gangsters start trading insults and threats, Lyokha pulls a pistol and shoots a man dead. The men then have to go on the run from both the mob and the police, meanwhile encountering the harsh reality of post-Soviet Russia's countryside.

As a young boy, Charlie escaped the Armenian Genocide by stowing away in a trunk bound for the United States. His family was not so lucky. Despite his tragic start, as an adult, Charlie has managed to maintain his child-like wonder for the world. However, like so many refugees and orphans, there’s a hole in Charlie’s big heart. Our story begins in 1947, as Charlie repatriates back to Armenia only to be greeted by the harsh reality of Soviet Communism. Almost immediately Charlie is arrested and sentenced to prison for the absurd crime of wearing a tie. To further ensure that he doesn’t influence other prisoners with his “cosmopolitan” ways, Charlie is placed in solitary confinement. Just as he appears to be succumbing to the terror of his situation, Charlie discovers that the prison wall outside his cell window had been damaged during a recent earthquake. And through a hole he can see into a nearby apartment building. The Armenian couple who live in the apartment, Tigran and Ruzan, become Charlie’s only connection to the outside world. Every chance he gets he watches them, living vicariously through the details of their private lives, sharing meals with them, laughing, crying with them. All the while discovering the Armenian culture he never knew. Charlie begins to care deeply for Tigran, sympathizing with this Soviet Armenian who has been forced to suppress his passion for music, food, art and life. But then, in an unexpected twist of fate, Tigran discovers that Charlie has been watching him, to Charlie’s surprise, Tigran does not report him, but instead allows Charlie further into his world. Through these two prisoners of circumstance, our belief in love and magic is revived. In the end, although not in the way he expected, Charlie ultimately finds what he came to Armenia in search of ... a homeland.