A kindhearted colonel Rostanev’s estate is visited by his nephew, the narrator, who finds himself in a kingdom of absurdity where everything is completely controlled by the hypocritical hanger-on, Foma Fomich Opisкин. Under the mask of piety and refined sensitivity, he has turned the lives of the household into a farce, and now the clash between the gentle uncle and the home tyrant threatens to blow up the entire house.