Meredit i Nina Uitson - sestry, no trudno nayti zhenshchin bolee nepohozhih. Odna - domosedka, vsegda schitavshaya, chto net luchshey sud'by, chem vyyti zamuzh, rastit' detey i upravlyat' semeynym yablonevym pitomnikom. Drugaya mechtala o stranstviyah, stala fotoreporterom, osveshchayushchim gumanitarnye katastrofy, i motaetsya po vsemu miru, izbegaya razgovorov o budushchem i sem'e. Bolezn' otca svodit sester vmeste v roditel'skom dome. Ot materi s russkimi kornyami oni nikogda ne videli nichego, krome ledyanogo neodobreniya, i dazhe seychas Anya ne pytaetsya sblizit'sya s docheryami, proyavlyaya horosho znakomuyu im otstranennost'. V detstve tol'ko odno ob"edinyalo ih s mater'yu: skazka pro bednuyu devushku i princa, kotoruyu ta rasskazyvala devochkam na noch'. Ponimaya, chto umiraet, otec prosit docherey doslushat' skazku - do samogo konca. Tak nachinaetsya puteshestvie dvuh zhenshchin v proshloe materi, v ee zhizn' v blokadnom Leningrade, v strashnyy i krasivyy ledyanoy mir.