In the mid-1800s, naïve fifteen-year-old Anna finds herself pregnant out of wedlock and is banished from her tiny Russian village of Petrovo. The homeless, illiterate girl makes her way to Moscow, only to discover that the city's frozen streets are filled with women as destitute and vulnerable as she is. Lacking other options, young Anna follows their example and accepts a yellow ticket--the government's license to work as a prostitute. She takes up residence in a brothel, whose veneer of faded magenta silk, flaking gold leaf, and faux diamonds disguises the age-old perils of disease, unwanted pregnancy, and savage abuse that will mark her future. Anna eventually comes to grips with the realization that she must escape from her life as a prostitute before she either meets a premature death or becomes a used-up whore living in the city's cockroach- and maggot-filled gutters. With an indomitable spirit and the help of three men (a grandpa intent upon bringing revolution to Russia, a young accountant who views life from a wheel chair, and a wealthy banker who rekindles her deeply buried dreams), she embarks on a most unusual path to a new life.