The novel begins when Sashenka is sixteen. As she's leaving school for the holidays, she is arrested by the gendarmes and taken away to the Kresty prison. There, she is assaulted by the other inmates and questioned by Peter de Sagan, captain of the Gendarmes. Sashenka admits that she is a Bolshevik comrade. Sashenka is in prison for less than a day before her rich father, Samuil Zeitlin, gets her released. After that, Sashenka talks to her uncle Mendel (the man who introduced her to Communism and the Rebellion) about what she should do next. Mendel tells her to try and learn more about Peter de Sagan.
For the rest of this section in the novel, Sashenka begins to get very fed up with her mother, Ariadna, and her adulterous ways. Sashenka finds solace in the streets of Russia, delivering messages to comrades and getting to know Peter de Sagan better (eventually they kiss, but their relationship is ruined when, in a fit of desperation, Peter tries to sexually assault Sashenka). The section ends with the Revolution and the suicide of Ariadna.
In the second part of the novel, Sashenka is a middle aged woman. She is married to Vanya Palitsyn, a Bolshevik comrade, and they have two really cute kids named Snowy and Carlo. Sashenka should be happy, but she isn't. If anything, she's terrified. Bolsheviks are being questioned, arrested, and killed. While at first she's convinced that her and the rest of her family are safe, she soon finds out that is not the case. A brief but flamboyant love affair with author Benya Golden leads to Sashenka and Vanya's arrest. Hercules Satinov, a close friend of Sashenka and Vanya, takes their children and promises to find them good homes. Sashenka is beaten, questioned, and killed.
In the last section of the novel, we meet Sashenka's granddaughter. Her name is Katinka, and she's a historian. When Roza Getman, a rich widow from Odessa, hires Katinka to uncover her family history, Katinka accepts. Along with a young historian named Maxy Shubin, Katinka discovers that Sashenka was brutally murdered (she was tied to a pole, naked, and doused in water. As it was winter, Sashenka froze to death). She also learns that Roza Getman is actually Snowy Palitsyn, but her named was changed by the family who adopted her. Katinka's father, Valentin Vinsky, turns out to be Carlo Palitsyn. His name was also changed. The novel ends with Katinka kissing Maxy.