The film covers the last 15 years in the lives of Nicholas (Michael Jayston) and Alexandra (Janet Suzman), the last Czar and Czarina of Russia, and their family. The story starts in 1904 with the birth of Alexei, the last of five children and the only son, who Nicholas and Alexandra see as the continuation of the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. Global forces seem to be shifting, which threatens that dynasty. Other countries, such as Britain, have a monarchy that is largely symbolic, where the key decisions are made by an elected parliament, unlike the Russian duma, which is under Nicholas' control. Many of Nicholas' decisions have led to poverty and starvation amongst the Russian populace, especially among the working and peasant classes. Those unpopular decisions include the unnecessary war with Japan over Korea; Nicholas wanted an ice-free port in the Pacific, at the price of Russian lives. Many of these decisions are also against the advice of his inner circle of government ministers. There is an uprising of the working class, and Vladimir Lenin (Michael Bryant) has formed the Bolshevik Party under Marxist ideals. Government actions against the working class, sanctioned by Nicholas or not, lead to greater public dissatisfaction with his rule. But the greatest threat to the Romanov dynasty may be Alexandra. Her unpopularity grows through her association with Siberian peasant and self-professed holy man Grigori Rasputin (Tom Baker), who states that he is the voice of God. Alexandra, a highly devout woman, is grasping at anything that will keep hemophiliac Alexei alive. She sees her faith in Father Grigori as the only reason Alexei has survived as long as he has. Her unpopularity increases even more with the onset of World War I, as Russia is at war with Germany and she is from a German background.—Huggo