At ten, Yuliya is dancing in the streets of Shakhtinsk as part of a pickpocket team, and is noticed by Pototskiy, a former star of the Bolshoi, now a deadbeat drunk.

They become the star students - with their classmates betting avidly when the two do a fouetté competition - but Karina has the advantage of rich, protective parents.

Karina stars in the performance, and goes on to a meteoric career at the Bolshoi, becoming an "international ballerina" while Yuliya stagnates in the corps de ballet.

Star French dancer Antoine Duval comes to the Bolshoi to stage Swan Lake for his own retirement performance with Karina as the female lead.

The film was shot in Minsk, Belarus, in the town of Kirovsk, Murmansk Oblast and Moscow, Russia - on the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater.