The battles of the Russo-Turkish War have thundered and passed. Dmitry Budishchev has been discharged from the army and dreams of a peaceful life. But around him are the everyday realities of the nineteenth century—when one can have everything and another has nothing. When representatives of “high society” can humiliate, rob, and even maim any common person—just for fun. And what is a man supposed to do in such a situation who is used to looking at problems through the slit of a gun sight? Go to the populists—or mind his own business?