Torment

Summary

Against the backdrop of a Russia hemorrhaging its imperial identity, Count Boris emerges as an avatar of desperate altruism, absconding with the Romanov regalia not for personal gain, but to mitigate the famine ravaging his compatriots. His odyssey takes him to the volatile harbor of Yokohama, where the glitter of the crown jewels attracts a predatory trio: the calculating Carstock, the wavering Hansen, and the ruthless Fogarty. As these underworld figures circle their prey, a serendipitous encounter between Hansen and the ethereal Marie ignites a moral friction, prompting the thief to contemplate a life of legitimacy. However, the narrative shifts from a standard heist thriller into an existential nightmare when a cataclysmic earthquake ravages the city, interring the protagonists within the claustrophobic confines of a bank vault. In this subterranean purgatory, the social hierarchies of the old world dissolve into a raw struggle for survival. Boris perishes in the chaos, leaving Hansen to inherit the weight of the jewels and the responsibility they carry. Emerging from the wreckage, Hansen and Marie find salvation not in the gold itself, but in the promise of a shared future built upon the ruins of their former transgressions.

Synopsis

Count Boris escapes from Russia during the Revolution with the crown jewels, intending to use them to aid his starving countrymen. Three international crooks--Carstock, Hansen, and Fogarty--plan to steal the jewels, but Hansen meets Marie en route to Yokohama and decides to go straight. They are all engulfed, including Boris, by an earthquake and trapped in a bank vault. Boris is slain. Hansen gets the jewels, which he promises to use helping the poor. He and Marie are rescued, and they plan to marry.