V. Rynkevich’s surprisingly subtle and deep novel is about the ironic master of the gloomy era of Russia, the master of quiet dramas and tragedies of human life, the master of the stage and the new theater. This is a novel about earthly and sublime love, about life and death, about the fates of literary heroes and real heroes - in a word, about a great writer whose name is Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.