The plot carries the listener back to the very beginning of the 20th century, to famine-stricken Russia suffering from a deep economic crisis. Millions of ruined peasants come to the cities seeking to earn money; laid-off workers can’t find new jobs. In the end, when people can’t determine their place in life, many sink to the very “bottom” of society. Greedy money-hungry swindlers quickly figured out what was happening and set up their basements as dark, damp shelters. In one of those foul basements is the lodging of Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev—who is ready to squeeze out the last pennies even from the poor and dispossessed residents of the cellar.