In 1976, at the height of the Cold War, the KGB arrested Anatole (Natan) Sharansky in Moscow, the day after his marriage to his Jewish bride Avital. Sharansky was a Soviet Jew and a widely publicized dissident against the Soviet empire, because of the abuse of human rights and the restriction on Jews leaving the Soviet Union. He would spend ten years in the Soviet gulag, ten long lonely years, separated from his wife and family and friends. Ten years of stubborn resistance to the KGB. It was incredible how he steadfastly refused to cooperate with them in any way whatsoever. He spent day after day in isolated, cold punishment cells. He would go on hunger strikes, from which he nearly died. He would encourage other prisoners. He would read his precious book of Psalms that Avital had given him.

Meanwhile, on the outside so much of the world protested his imprisonment, including President Reagan.

Finally, and unexpectedly, because of an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, Sharansky is released, reunited with Avital in Germany and flown to his new home in Jerusalem.

This is an amazing story of the human yearning for freedom and the courage of a young man and young woman, his wife Avital, to resist evil in the fight for freedom. It’s a remarkable story.