 The film follows the romance of Prince Peter Karagin and Lydia Pavlovna Marakova, a singer and secret revolutionary, in Imperial Russia on the eve of World War I. Douglas Shearer was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Best Sound Recording.In 1914 Tsarist Russia, Prince Peter Karagin (Nelson Eddy) is a captain of the Cossack Guards, riding home from manoeuvres to an evening of wine, women and song at St. Petersburg's Cafe Balalaika.The Balalaika's new star, Lydia Pavlovna Marakova (Ilona Massey), is blackmailed into attending the officers' party and is expected to choose a "favoured one."