Sanya, feeling empty and wanting to leave Russia, allows Pierre to set him up with an American woman. His new wife gives him the opportunity to immigrate to America where he goes on to teach at a world renowned music school. The novel ends with a reunion of Sanya and a childhood friend named Liza. Later on the night of their meeting, the poet Joseph Brodsky, whom they visited earlier that evening, and who had been exiled to the US, dies.