Moscow, October 23, 2002. During the musical nordost at the Dubrovka Theater, Chechen separatists seized the theater and took 850 spectators hostage for three days.

In Buschheimer's work, three women—an eyewitness to the event, a Chechen "black widow" (female militant), a Russian hostage, and a Latvian doctor—present, in the present tense, each from their own perspective, all the incidents of this dark chapter in recent Russian history.

The three women cross-reference their testimonies. The dialogues captivate with their vibrancy and humanity, and without questioning responsibility, they reach their climax with the tragic end of the hostage situation, which resulted in the loss of 170 lives.