Late autumn 1983. Dr. Olga Cherkosova witnesses the violent destruction of a Soviet military site where her daughter works and sets out on a journey of recovery guided only by the instincts of her six-year old grandson, Piotr. Their journey takes them to the mountains of central Colorado in search of a man whom Piotr senses binds them together. Laments for the Dead unravels the intricate story of a mother striving to mourn for her lost daughter, of a Key Man seeking to understand and deliver a package that he has been given, and of a father trying to comprehend the precarious line that separates life from death.