TJ has a super power. 

He is one of the only American teens with the ability to speak over a dozen languages. After he graduates high school in winter, TJ embarks on a journey with a British friend to learn new languages and explore the most exotic corners of the world. While in Russia on the eve of conflict, the boys undergo a series of life-threatening adventures and passionate side-quests in the tundra of Murmansk and the snowy metropolis of Saint Petersburg alike. However, as tensions rise in Eastern Europe, things get complicated and borders close. In this shocking memoir, TJ must learn the true cost of adventure as the world goes into chaos and he desperately tries to return to Russia again.