A timid by nature, prone to extremes Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin—once making an unforgivable mistake (though he himself doesn’t admit it)—meets on his life path an unbearably familiar character. But the fact only startles him; everyone else refuses to notice what happened, as if nothing extraordinary occurred. Golyadkin’s extraordinary double fawns, ingratiates himself, creeps into everyone’s trust—at the expense of our unfortunate hero.