In present day Chicago, a young writer, Brik, and his friend Rora, a photographer, both from Eastern Europe, are obsessed with the story of an early 20th century murder. The victim was nineteen-year-old Lazarus, a Jewish immigrant, who was shot by the Chicago chief of police. The official statement released suggested that Lazarus was a would-be anarchist assassin and agent of foreign political operatives. Brik and Rora retrace the history of East European pogroms and poverty to find out what really happened and why.