Spanning 1833 to 1866, the The Coast of Utopia trilogy is anchored by the presence of anarchist Michael Bakunin, literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, literary giant Ivan Turgenev and revolutionary thinker Alexander Herzen, four men who came of age under Tsar Nicholas I and whose passion for political and intellectual change is mirrored in their personal pursuit of love and happiness.

As the arcs of their lives intersect repeatedly, the seeds of the great social revolutions of the late 19th century are sown. In Voyage, Tom Stoppard creates a Chekhovian portrait of life on a Russian estate as he introduces the Bakunin family: Michael, his four sisters, his parents, their social circle and his growing intellectual circle.