As the turbulent twentieth-century nears its end, calls for independence grow increasingly louder in the Soviet Georgia. During this period of great upheaval, childhood friends Keto, Dina, Nene, and Ira grow up in one of the many “Italian courtyards” that define Tbilisi’s Sololaki neighborhood. The four girls are as different as can be: Dina, the rebellious, daughter of an unconventional mother;Ira, the clever outsider;Nene, the romantic, and niece of the most powerful criminal in the city;and Keto, the sensitive, motherless waif. Rising up to challenges both personal and political —a first love that can only blossom in secret, violence that erupts in the wake of national independence, bloody street battles and civil wars, food rationing and power cuts—the four women’s friendship seems indestructible, until an unforgivable act of betrayal and a tragic death shatters their bond. Decades later, the three survivors are reunited at a major retrospective of their late friend’s photographs i