The main hero of the novel is Arkady Dolgoruky, an illegitimate son of a nobleman. Throughout his childhood, his upbringing was handled by other people; his peers often teased him, and he grew up impressionable and vulnerable. At the age of twenty, Arkady moves to St. Petersburg and takes a position as secretary to an old prince. Here an idea is born in him—to become as rich as the millionaire Rothschild. He hopes to reach this goal with the help of his original theory of “persistence and continuity.” Can a person change his life—or, rather, will life change the person?