By what logic are weapons of mass destruction allowed to proliferate? What role does conscience play in scientific endeavor? Andrey Klystov is a Soviet-trained chemist in the Department of Agriculture of a war-torn, totalitarian former-Soviet State. After the enemy deploys a nerve agent, the erratic and corrupt State military recruits and coerces Andrey to help them generate a chemical weapons program. A hostage of his own government, Andrey is torn between the moral dilemma of creating weapons of mass destruction and supporting his impoverished, starving wife and child through the generous government paychecks, which his work entails.