Kirill Sokolov (1930 - 2004) trained as an artist in Moscow, under the Stalinist dictatorship. His interest in Western art during the Soviet years was considered dangerously subversive and had to be explored in secret. Following his wedding to British research student Avril Pyman (in the first foreign marriage personally approved by Krushchev himself), he moved to north-east England and overcoming depression and artistic isolation gained a reputation as a leading international artist. The documentary explores his story through his art and his widow Avril Sokolov.