The narrator recounts a clandestine journey into Soviet Russia, describing failed attempts to obtain legal papers, secret border crossings through neutral territory, and dependence on unreliable contacts to pass checkpoints. The account mixes practical travel episodes—suspicious inspections, improvised lodging, delays, and brief detentions—with observations about surveillance, the constrained freedom of women travelers, and a desire to witness a political experiment firsthand. Vivid scenes of tense ruses at frontiers, crowded or unsanitary accommodations, and ambiguous helpers convey both the logistical hardships of the trip and the author’s political and personal impressions of a society in transition.