There are more parties than ever at Banine's home, as the ranks of Baku society have been swollen by refugees from Russia, all awaiting the imminent demise of the Bolsheviks. Banine's second sister marries and leaves on a trip to Paris with her husband, her stepmother Amina and sister number three. Banine is heartbroken to be left behind, nursing a sense of great injustice and dreaming of Paris. Practically the following day she hears the Internationale being sung in the streets – Red Army troops have entered Baku. The democratic republic is over and so is Banine's childhood.