Alexei mocks Mila at the shooting range, holding a rifle above her head to humiliate her.

Mila enlists in the Red Army while still dressed in formal opera wear after Germany invades.

Captain Sergienko tests Mila's sniper skills by ordering her to shoot a distant Romanian command post, and she succeeds.

Mila selects Kostia Shevelyov as her sniper partner after he alone follows her orders without hesitation.

Mila's platoon reaches a farm in Tatarka where a young woman named Maria survived a violent gang rape by German soldiers.

On the evacuation ship from Odessa, Mila is stunned to discover the army medic is her estranged husband, Alexei.

Lyonya Kitsenko donates blood and insists on driving Mila to hospital after she is critically wounded in battle.

Mila and Kostia use a costumed scarecrow as a decoy to locate and kill the German sniper Captain Bommel.

Lyonya is fatally wounded by a routine mortar shell during a peaceful moment outside camp and dies.

Mila is evacuated from besieged Sevastopol by submarine and receives word that Lena has been killed.

Mila is assigned to a Soviet propaganda delegation traveling to the United States, with Alexei included as delegation doctor.

Mila meets Eleanor Roosevelt at the Soviet embassy press conference, and the two women form an unexpected friendship.

Mila defeats all competitors, including Alexei, in a public shooting contest hosted by the Chicago Sharpshooters' Association.

Mila places the sniper's diamonds on a dummy in Rock Creek Park and shoots him when he fires at it.

Alexei shoots at Mila after the assassination attempt is foiled; she taunts his obscurity and then kills him.

Mila Pavlichenko's story begins with humiliation at the hands of her estranged husband Alexei and ends with her becoming a celebrated Soviet sniper and unlikely hero in wartime Washington. After enlisting when Germany invades, Mila quickly proves her extraordinary skill, forms a trusted partnership with sniper Kostia, and falls in love with the dashing Lieutenant Lyonya Kitsenko. Lyonya's sudden death devastates her, but she recovers enough to join a Soviet delegation to the United States, where she bonds with Eleanor Roosevelt and faces an anonymous assassin targeting President Roosevelt. Mila uses her battlefield instincts to identify and outmaneuver the assassin in a tense showdown in Rock Creek Park, killing him with a diamond-baited decoy. She then kills Alexei in self-defense, permanently ending the threat he has posed to her freedom throughout the novel.

The headline events of Mila's war and Washington showdown.

Mila promises her young son Slavka she will be both mother and father to him and teach him to shoot.

Mila graduates from an advanced marksmanship course after mastering a difficult exercise shooting only the base off a bottle.

Mila befriends medical student Lena Paliy on the train to the front, bonding quickly over shared patriotism and history with Alexei.

Mila is assigned to dig trenches at the front despite her rifle skills, denied combat duty because of her gender.

Mila is first wounded by mortar fire and wakes in a field hospital with Lena cataloging her injuries.

An unknown man evicted from the steam bath sends Mila gifts from grateful soldiers she protected in the field.

Local tracker Vartanov, whose family was murdered by Germans, joins Mila's platoon and helps her attack the German regimental headquarters.

Kostia reveals during a campfire meal that his grandmother was American and that he has living relatives in the United States.

Mila's killing of Captain Bommel is reported widely by journalists and filmmakers, transforming her into a celebrated public figure.

Mila delivers a speech to a group of women activists in Sevastopol, promising to kill more Nazis on their behalf.

Mila and Kostia get drunk together at Lyonya's grave, and Mila finds her hands have finally stopped shaking.

Mila wakes in her White House guest room to find a threatening note written in Cyrillic script.

Alexei follows Mila into Rock Creek Park during a shopping trip and demands reconciliation, claiming he has changed for Slavka's sake.

Kostia confesses his love to Mila when their canoe capsizes during a private outing at the Hyde Park estate.

Mila returns to Moscow airport with Kostia at her side and runs to embrace her son Slavka.

While the main plot follows Mila's combat victories and the Washington assassination intrigue, the novel's emotional texture comes from the relationships and quieter moments surrounding those headline events. From her childhood promise to Slavka through her wartime friendships with Lena and Vartanov, Mila is constantly shaped by the bonds she forms along the way. Her growing fame after the Bommel killing, her political speeches, and her grief work at Lyonya's grave reveal the human cost of war on a deeply personal level. In Washington, threatening notes and a possessive Alexei complicate her propaganda mission even as Kostia's declaration of love opens a new emotional chapter. This pool concludes with Mila's joyful return to Moscow and the reunion with her son that she fought for throughout the entire novel.

The friendships and quieter moments that shaped Mila's journey.

Mila misses a rifle shot in front of Alexei at the firing range and vows to herself to make no more mistakes.

Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov announces the German invasion over the radio, shattering Mila's plans for a summer of study.

Mila picks up a rifle from a fallen soldier's hands and enters live combat for the first time.

Mila discovers that the courteous stranger she flirted with at the steam bath is her new regimental commander, Lieutenant Lyonya Kitsenko.

Lyonya publicly defends Vartanov's inclusion in Mila's platoon over Captain Dromin's sexist resistance, earning her trust.

After Lyonya donates blood to save Mila's life, she finally grants him permission to call her by her first name.

During a mortar attack on their dinner date, Lyonya admits his own fear of war and Mila kisses him for the first time.

Lyonya describes the peacetime life in Moscow they could share together and promises to be a loving father to Slavka.

Mila and Kostia shoot their mortally wounded comrade Fyodor Sedykh to end his suffering during Sevastopol's final collapse.

A letter from Kostia confirming he survived the fall of Sevastopol arrives in Moscow and finally revives Mila's spirit.

Eleanor Roosevelt tells Mila that judging herself by a standard of never missing has made her a brave soldier but a frightened woman.

Mila and Kostia become lovers after sneaking away from a Hollywood party to swim together in the estate pool.

Mila notices that her admirer Jonson conceals his cigarette flame with his hand the way snipers do, and realizes he is one.

After finding Theodore Roosevelt's lost signet ring in her pocket, Mila proposes marriage to Kostia.

Mila and Eleanor reunite at a women's conference years after the war and quietly toast the memory of Franklin Roosevelt.

The Diamond Eye traces Mila's transformation from a frightened young woman determined never to make another mistake into a self-assured soldier and survivor capable of love and decisive action. Each event in this pool marks a pivot: a decision made, a secret uncovered, or an emotional wall dismantled. From her vow of perfection at the firing range to the discovery that a charming stranger is her commanding officer, the novel builds a portrait of a woman perpetually forced to reassess what she knows and what she deserves. Eleanor Roosevelt's challenge to Mila's perfectionism and Kostia's declaration of love each push her toward the vulnerability she has spent years avoiding. The pool culminates in Mila's identification of the assassin, her lethal improvisation in Rock Creek Park, and her proposal to Kostia — proof that she has finally learned to risk her heart.