A former Russian postal officer finds himself in a Masonic lodge during his exile in Paris. His life is turned upside down as a result. Yegor Yegorovich Tetyokhin leads a good emigrant life in Paris during the interwar period. He works as a sales employee for a French company, has a simple-minded wife, and a son who is about to graduate from school. One day, he receives an invitation to a Masonic lodge from a colleague. Unlike his colleague, Tetyokhin takes the ideals of Freemasonry seriously and begins, in boundless naivety and honesty, to align his life uncompromisingly with these ideals. Tetyokhin's development from a "rough stone" to a "hewn stone" resembles that of a modern-day Hans in Luck and is not without its comedic effects. Osorgin writes about him with benevolent, humanistic humor.