In Vladimir Village, USSR, a priest attacks a young Russian girl with a knife. In the distance, the girl’s sister, Irina, witnesses her murder. The sounds of livestock kept in outdoor pens muffle the screams of the victim. Three American college friends arrive in Helsinki, Finland, to enjoy one last trip together. They buy a junkyard car to use for sightseeing. K. C. reads aloud from a tour guide that contains maps, showing the border between Finland and Russia; however, Mitch Shepard throws the book out the window. In a field down the road, the friends take target practice in a field with rifles and cross bows. Mitch shoots his arrow at a haystack. The friends stumble upon an official sign over a flimsy barricade, indicating that the Russian border is one kilometer away. Mitch and Savoy recklessly enter Russia, seeking adventure. K. C. is against the plan, but reluctantly follows his friends. They hide and observe a Russian guard at the border. When the guard retreats inside a guardhouse at night, the friends enter the Soviet Union. However, K. C.’s pack gets tangled in barbed wire, and forces him to leave many of his supplies behind. The next day, several guards and their dog discover K. C.’s possessions. The friends climb in the rear of a wood-paneled truck without the driver’s knowledge. When the driver stops at a village, the friends disembark, although K. C. becomes separated from the others. When Savoy and Mitch engage Irina, she runs. They drag her into a barn, but she pretends not understand them. She runs away again, and this time villagers wait at the barn door. Mitch and Savoy are captured, and taken to the funeral of Irina’s sister. The priest announces in English that Americans who live by the sword shall die by the sword. Savoy realizes they are being accused of the girl’s murder. Meanwhile back at the village, K. C. befriends Irina. She informs him of the priest’s guilt and takes him to the funeral. There, he shoots the priest with an arrow, and a riot starts. Mitch, K. C., and the villagers escape from the burning building while Savoy is trapped inside. A gunfight erupts between the Russians and the American. Savoy climbs to a loft, escapes through the roof, and is reunited with his friends. He learns the priest murdered Irina’s sister. Border patrol guards attack the friends with machine-gun fire. As they run for their lives, K. C. is shot. They escape in Irina’s truck, but other guards wait for them at the border. Savoy turns the truck around and returns to the village. He crashes into a building to dislodge a guard, who has climbed on the hood. The friends escape and Savoy is reluctant to leave Irina, but his friends insist. They travel by boat on a river, and study Irina’s map. At night, they travel in the snow toward the Finnish border, but Russian soldiers capture them. When the friends are interrogated, Savoy and K. C. agree to cooperate, but Mitch refuses. Electrodes are attached to Mitch’s nipples. The interrogator accuses the three friends of being terrorists, and wants to know where to find the rest of their collaborators. When Savoy sees Mitch about to be shocked again, he lies and says they became separated from other terrorists. Savoy also falsely confesses to planning the attack on Vladimir Village, and names Irina as a conspirator. The friends are locked in a prison cell, and stripped naked by other prisoners. Later, Savoy and Mitch try to get help for K. C., who is weak from his gunshot wound, but the other inmates do not understand or ignore them. The friends are put to work, and Savoy sees K. C. collapse. Back in their cell, Mitch beats another prisoner in order to steal his bed for K. C. Guards arrive, and remove Mitch and the unconscious Russian inmate. Later, Kapsky, an English-speaking Russian prisoner, tells Savoy the prison is run like a chess game, and the inmates are chess pieces. He says Mitch has probably been transferred to the dungeon where they keep the insane and most violent prisoners. Very few people escape the prison, but Savoy might get lucky if he talks to a prisoner called “the Admiral,” an American who used to be a soldier of fortune. Savoy talks to a U. S. emissary, who makes no promises about freeing the three friends. When the interrogator dines with the emissary, he wants to trade the three for a Russian spy, but the Americans are only college students, and the emissary says his government is not concerned about their fate. The interrogator offers a female prisoner named Nadia Kulakova as a prostitute for the emissary, but she refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Savoy discovers Irina in the prison, and arranges to see her after bribing another inmate. However, Nadia appears instead and tells him that Irina committed suicide. She says the emissary is corrupt, and the Admiral is the only one to trust. Later, Kapsky suffocates K. C., and takes Savoy to meet the Admiral, who explains that he is writing a book to expose the dirty tricks used by governments around the world. The Admiral will hide Savoy, and plans to escape with the Americans. The Admiral shows Savoy a map of the prison, shows him how to make duplicate keys, stockpiles weapons, and provides Russian guard uniforms. Later, Nadia helps Savoy shave with a pocketknife and they make love. In the dungeon, Mitch has learned to speak Russian, and is disoriented when Savoy and the Admiral rescue him. The Admiral tells the friends to travel through the sewer. Russian guards shoot at them, and Savoy watches Mitch die in front of his eyes. On the perimeter of the prison, Mitch meets Nadia and the Admiral, who has a gunshot wound in the leg. They have a car waiting, and shoot their way out of the penitentiary until a flamethrower destroys their car. Savoy commandeers a truck. The Admiral tells Savoy to drive to a river, and follow it to Finland. He hands over his manuscript and contacts, which he wants Savoy to personally deliver, then tells Savoy and Nadia they are on their own. They break through a border checkpoint, but soon run out of gas. A single car approaches. The driver parks and walks to the truck, but when he opens the door and points his gun, it is empty. Savoy is hiding with Nadia beneath a nearby bridge, and shoots the man dead. Savoy and Nadia follow the river to freedom.