Young widow Popova receives a visitor who asks to repay debts of her former husband. Smirnov has an urgent need for money in order to repay his own bank loans the next morning and is refusing to leave. After heated emotional exchange Smirnov suggests a duel notwithstanding that Popova being a woman does not even know how to handle guns. But she does not give up and accepts the challenge. One thing leads to another and shortly after we find them both expressing love for each other.