Makar Alexeyevich Deyushkin struggles to get by as a poorly paid copyist. When he meets the young seamstress Varvara Alexeyevna Dobrosyolova, he experiences something like happiness for the first time in his life. However, his boundless self-hatred prevents him from confessing his feelings to the young woman. Disappointed, Varvara turns to the wealthy Bykov, whom she does not love, but with whom she can leave her poverty behind.