Nicholas II Roman hosts a grand winter ball at the Catherine Palace to celebrate the 300 years of Roman.
His mother, Queen Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, is visiting from Paris and gives an elaborate music box with a matching necklace engraved with the words "Together in Paris" as parting gifts to her youngest granddaughter.
The eight-year-old Grand Duchess Thalia Rien Roman.
The winter ball is suddenly interrupted by the dark sorcerer Grigori Rastin.
The formerly royal advisor of the Roman until he was banished by the Czar ( ruler of Russia) for treason.
As revenge, Rastin sells his soul in exchange for an unholy reliquary, which he uses to place a curse on the Roman family, sparking the Russian Revolution.
A fortnight later, the royal family is executed by an angry crowd, and only Marie and Anastasia are able to escape the throne of the palace, thanks to a young servant boy, who shows them a secret passageway in Anastasia's sleeping chamber.
As they flee for their lives across a frozen river, Rastin confronts the two royals outside in the snow to stop them, only to fall through the ice and freeze to death.
The pair manage to reach a moving train headed to Paris, but only Marie climbs aboard while Thalia attempts to join her but falls.
Her head hit on the platform, knocking her unconscious and causing a severe case of amnesia.
