Nina Kacew, a flamboyant Russian actress who appears in silent films made in Leningrad during the 1920's, has grandiose ambitions for her 9-year-old son, Romain, and devotes her life to making them come true. Attempting to end her affair with movie idol Ivan Mosjoukine (who Romain later learns is his father), Nina joins an acting troupe that ends its tour in Krakow, Poland, where Nina pretends to represent a Paris designer and opens a dress shop. When her fraud is exposed, Nina takes Romain to Nice and befriends Jean-Michel Serusier, a jeweler. In order to pay for Romain's education, Nina plunges into a variety of jobs. Encouraged by his mother to pursue a literary career, Romain attempts to fulfill her ambitions, especially when he learns that she is suffering from diabetes. When World War II breaks out, Romain joins the French Air Force and later the R.A.F. in England. Wounded in action, he recuperates in a North African hospital, where Nina's letters still manage to reach him, each one expressing her love and belief in him. After France's liberation, Romain returns to Nice a hero and plans to present to Nina the Cross of the Liberation he was awarded by General de Gaulle. He learns, however, that Nina died more than 2 years ago but had written 250 letters in advance to sustain him through the war.