Ardalyon Borisovich Peredonov, a gymnasium teacher in a provincial town, gradually goes insane. First, here and there, a tiny demon “Nedotykomka” seems to him, distracting him from what’s going on around.
The woman he lives with wants to marry Peredonov to herself, promising him a higher position through the patronage of a friend of a noblewoman. At the gymnasium, the author’s authority among the students falls, and colleagues’ respect turns into contempt. Bit by bit, Peredonov becomes the joke of the whole town…