Bored and childless, Katerina Ismailov lives with her husband, Zinovy, under the cruel rule of her father-in-law, Boris. When Boris and Zinovy are both called away from their estate on urgent business, Katerina's attentions soon turn to Sergei, the newly-arrived farmhand ­– and thus begins Nikolai Leskov's perfectly formed tale of lust, murder, guilt and revenge.