Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of a Tatiana, a fourteen-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. She also finds a card for the Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a boss in the Russian Mafia or vory v zakone ("thieves in law"). Anna thus sets out to track down the girl\'s family so that she can find a home for the dead mother\'s baby girl. Annas mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Annas Russian-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), ...