Just one day in the life of the heroes, a kind of modern old-world landowners, is described in this modest-sized book (unlike Joyce’s famous “Ulysses,” to which the author ironically hints at similarities), and the real business ahead of them, also just one thing: you need to cut down the birch tree. But around this simple story is woven, in the words of Dmitry Bykov, a bizarre network of strange characters, memories, quotes, short stories and even culinary recipes. Caught in this network, the reader cannot free himself until the last page: the hero’s observations, reflections on why his life turned out this way, and not only his, turn out to be interesting and close to many.