The cynical coroner Kamyshev meets the beautiful Olenka, a village girl who looks after the children of the widowed administrator of the Urbenin estate, during a visit to his childhood friend Count Karneev. The girl marries old Urbenin without being able to love him. Kamyschow, in turn, desires her beauty and engages in a love affair with her. When he learns that Olenka also favors the Count, the haughty man who cares so little for the honor of others, he is left deeply wounded in his pride and out for revenge.