Little Anastasia and her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie, manage to escape the curse Rasputin lowers upon the rest of the Romanovs thanks to the enterprising help of a kitchen boy. But while Marie makes it back to her home in Paris, Anastasia becomes separated from her and is next seen a decade later. At that moment, Dimitri and Vladimir are auditioning candidates for an alleged theatrical piece while actually looking for a young woman they can groom and pass off as the real Anastasia to collect the reward from the Empress Marie in Paris. Anastasia, as Anya, with no recollection of her past, wins the role and they set off for France. Rasputin has vowed to fulfill his curse by finally destroying Anastasia and unleashes his demons upon a train carrying her and her two mentors to Paris. Surviving this, Anya and Dimitri's relationship turns to romance. As for the Empress, she has tired of interviewing greedy impostors, but eventually, the two meet and Anya realizes her true identity.