Red Pawn

Red Pawn is a spy thriller set on Strastnoy Island in an undisclosed location in northern Soviet Russia during the 1920s.

The screenplay follows Joan Harding, aka Frances Volkontzeva, an American woman who infiltrates Strastnoy Island to free her imprisoned husband, Michael Volkontzev.

A love triangle develops between the three characters as Joan works to free her husband while fooling the prison staff and Kareyev as to her true intentions.

Months pass and Joan becomes friends with many of the political prisoners on the island, and slowly Commandant Kareyev begins to feel affection for her.

Kareyev has his assistant, Comrade Fedossitch, place Michael in detention and tell Joan that she will be taking the ferry the next day to leave Strastnoy Island.

Kareyev puts Fedossitch under arrest and then goes to Joan's room and tells her to follow him to the detention tower to free Michael, so all three of them can escape.

As the trio make their way to shore, it is discovered that Michael, Joan, and Kareyev are no longer on the island and Fedossitch is freed by a fellow officer.

Kareyev, Michael, and Joan attempt to flee to the merchant's house and are forced to seek shelter in an empty barn.

The screenplay ends as Kareyev is taken away for execution while Joan and Michael are driven to Nijni Kolimsk with the hope of escape and a future together.

[1] Professor of literature at Anderson College Jena Trammell has cited Red Pawn as a crucial point in Rand's career and in the development of her aesthetic philosophy, romantic realism.