In retrospect, Vladimir Petrovich recounts the story of his first love: at the age of 16, he falls in love with the 21-year-old Zinaida during a rural summer stay with his parents. Immediately, he finds himself in competition with a number of other suitors, all vying for her affection. Despite her playful, capricious nature—she pits her admirers against each other, laughs at them, demands sadistic proofs of love, and masters the game of hot and cold like no one else—Vladimir is completely devoted to her and his burning feelings. However, the love-blind young man eventually realizes that his true rival is not any of the gentlemen in her house. Turgenev, one of the most significant representatives of Russian realism, describes in his autobiographical novella the tragedy of unrequited first love against the backdrop of a declining Russian aristocracy.