Etudes of Life

How far would you go for someone you once loved? It is 1994, and Paul arrives in Estonia for the first time, on Hiiumaa, to see the home where his grandmother Elsa once lived. He uncovers a family story whose secrets reach back to some of the most turbulent years in Estonia’s history. In 1924, young Elsa leaves her home on Hiiumaa and her communist neighbour Vaino when the charismatic artist Markus Müller enters her life. Elsa chooses Markus and begins a new life in Tallinn. Twenty years later, in 1944, Elsa’s life falls apart amid the turmoil of war. Her marriage to Markus conceals dangerous secrets, and German officer Hans enters her life. The Chopin étude he plays on the piano accompanies a forbidden love at a time when the whole world around them is collapsing. When Elsa’s daughter Marta falls into the hands of the returning Soviet army, Elsa’s past catches up with her. Her only chance to save her daughter is to turn to the man she left behind twenty years earlier. Vaino is now a Soviet officer—and the fate of Elsa’s daughter is in his hands.