Set in semi-lawless Kiev in 1990's, The Steel Barons is the story of a thirty year old American lawyer Jack Parker, who gets stranded in Ukraine, where he is befriended by Sergei, a small-time black marketeer. With a loan from Sergei, Jack opens a law office and transforms himself from a naive American to a steel baron, with a personal army of ex-KGB mercenaries. Even Lena, Jack's new girlfriend, worries about his growing involvement in the criminal world. When his partner is murdered, Jack is given a choice: sell his interests to a competing Russian steel company or die. Based on real life events.