These works tell about the life of the “demimonde” of St. Petersburg, about many problems that concern it. The heroes of the stories are people of different social strata: businessmen, artists, titled persons, newspapermen, cocottes. Numerous love affairs, filled with images of dark atrocities and fatal passions, take place against a real everyday background. The expressive language and vivid images of the characters will attract many readers.

The main characters of the novel are two young people: Fyodor Karaulov - “the pride of the Russian medical world” and his longtime friend - the dissolute, bankrupt Count Vladimir Belavin. Having married a wealthy girl, Concordia , the count continued to divide his time between dubious friends and “artists of love,” foreign and homegrown. The feeling of the young countess was mercilessly violated. Fyodor Karaulov finds himself next to Concordia in the most difficult days of her life (illness and death of her daughter), this determined their future fate.