The novel follows four top-level athletes from the 1980 Olympics to the present day: two weighlifters (an American from Missouri and a Kyrgyz man) and two high jumpers (a young American woman and a Kyrgyz woman of Koryo-Saram origin). The relationships among these rivals encompass both mutual admiration and misunderstandings. After the tensions of the Cold War, their destinies intersect once more with an unexpected reunion in the Kyrgyz mountains.