Pyotr, the Bishop at the Staro-Petrovski Convent feels weak and unwell. During the evening service, on the eve of Palm Sunday, while distributing the palm, he sees in the crowd a woman who looks like his mother whom he had not seen for nine years. For no particular reason tears start flowing from his eyes... Tired and in a kind of haze, he returns to his monastery bedroom, then learns from Father Sysoi, a lay brother, that his mother indeed had come to visit him, bringing with her Katya, an eight-year old niece. This brings him great joy, he spends the night in reveries... But he is unable to sleep also because his conditions worsens, and he seems to be in a fever.