Young nobleman Boris Pavlovich Raisky leads an easy, measured life in Petersburg. After finishing university and serving briefly in the army, he first turns down an officer’s career in the Guards, and then leaves service in a government department as well. Raisky lives in a bohemian manner, keeps company with the same idle metropolitan youth, tries his hand at both painting and literature, but achieves no notable results either as an artist or as a writer. Constant reflection and a search for life’s meaning lead Boris Pavlovich to Malinovka—a family estate he inherited. Away from the noise of the city, he hopes to put his life in order, understand himself, and find answers to questions that have long been troubling him.