Having a quiet evening by the fire with his wife and a friend, the State Councilor Sharamykin complains about the recent quietness of their town's cultural life and remembers how stormy things had been here in the past, and how much his wife Anna Pavlovna enjoyed it. Each time, going back in his memories to another star's visit to this place, on order to remember the exact year, he has to consult her as to the age of one of their four children.