At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian Empire, a family prospers, thanks to a magical recipe for hot chocolate that bewitches its drinkers. But this chocolate carries a bitter — some say cursed — aftertaste … Tumbling through the years, across vast expanses of longing and loss, we witness generation after generation of this remarkable family as they struggle and thrive, divide and reunite, and live and die in the red century.