The action takes place in 1714 in the London royal palace of St. James. The Duchess of Marlborough, the favorite of the weak-willed queen, skillfully rules the state. Her political opponent, former minister Lord Bolingbroke, dreaming of restoring his influence at court, successfully wages a cunning war against the duchess, using the rivalry between the queen and the duchess of Marlborough, who are in love with the young officer Mesham.

The story of a young woman who, after her years at university in the city, returns to her hometown an engineer and begins work on a huge new power plant. She continues to supervise work on the plant throughout the war.

Provincial landowner Murzavetskaya, a hypocrite hiding under the mask of piety and virtue, wants to get her hands on the fortune of the rich widow Kupavina.

Raisa Gurmyzhskaya is a former beauty who is spending her widowed years in a remote province of Russia. After her friend's young son comes to visit her, she finds herself bored enough to embark on an affair.

Alexander Chatsky returns from three years abroad, hoping to rekindle a romance with his childhood sweetheart Sophie. In the meantime, however, she has fallen in love with Molchalin, her father's scheming secretary. As scandal erupts, Chatsky is met with accusations of madness.

An inveterate gambler Mikhail Vasilievich Krechinsky loses a large sum of money. In order to avoid shame and pay debts, Krechinsky decides to marry a rich girl. But in order to receive the blessing of his father and speed up the wedding, he again has to go to deception...

About the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life, disagreements in the family, conflicts with his children and wife, about his leaving home.

A production of the State Academic Maly Theatre of the USSR.