Through the eyes of Fyodor, a nobleman who returns to his country estate in Russia after eleven years abroad, we take a leisurely look at a group of aristocrats in the nineteenth century.

On his arrival, as the musty rooms of the house are opened up again, old memories are revived, and Fyodor sadly remembers his beautiful wife, Varvara, whom he left behind in Paris. She has been unfaithful to him, and Fyodor hopes to shed his melancholia here, amidst the beautiful surroundings of his youth.

When Fyodor visits his neighbours, he falls in love with a beautiful young girl whom her family wants to marry a man she does not love. She is attracted to Fyodor, but he is a married man . . . When news that his wife has died, all obstacles from his happiness seem to have been removed.