In which the young heir Bunny Ross embarks upon his university life, immersed in the sprawling world of education funded by oil fortunes, where he encounters the surface gloss of culture mingled with subtle and unsettling political undercurrents. He finds his ideals challenged by secret letters from soldiers in Siberia and a cautionary tutor’s whispered truths, awakening him to the complexities and contradictions masked by the promises of progress and patriotism.