This television opera is based on Boris Asafiev's work "The Treasurer's Wife," which, in turn, is an opera adaptation of M.Y. Lermontov's poem "The Tambov Treasurer's Wife." The action takes place in the early 19th century in the provincial town of Tambov. The quiet, measured life of the town is disrupted by the arrival of a cavalry regiment. The old treasurer throws a ball, where he loses his entire fortune and his beautiful wife to the young cavalryman Garin in a card game.