Grey Eagle Films has launched development on a movie version of Warren Adler’s thriller novel “Trans-Siberian Express,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The story — set during the height of the Cold War — follows an American cancer specialist traveling to Moscow to help prolong the life of the Soviet Politburo Chief. The doctor accidentally discovers a diabolical plan to launch a nuclear strike against China and finds himself dispatched aboard the legendary Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Vladivostok — and unable to alert the U.S. of China’s imminent destruction.

“With all the current news and media attention on tension surrounding U.S.-Russian-Chinese relations, this story of raw human connection set within a political landscape resonates in a particularly timely way,” said Grey Eagle Films CEO Jonathan R. Adler.

Adler is best known for the novel “The War of the Roses.” Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVito starred in the 1989 movie adaptation.

The company’s projects include “The Serpent’s Bite,” with Anna Camp as co-producer and star; “Residue,” written and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall; “Mourning Glory,” written and directed by Karen Leigh Hopkins; “The Children of the Roses,” the sequel to “The War of the Roses”; and TV series adaptations, including “Target Churchill.”