Based on Gogol's story. It is Christmas Eve, and the town witches’ son, a blacksmith, seeks an honest marriage to his love who wishes for a pair of shoes fit for the Tsarina. A mischievous devil is trapped into providing service to the smith.

A couple of lovers deal with an evil presence that is threatening them.

Only fragments exist of this early version of Mat [Mother] by Aleksandr Razumnyj.