Gorky’s dramatic novel, written in exile and first published in 1926, is dedicated to the tragedy of those whom the writer called “iron men” - merchants and industrialists who brutally fought their way up from the bottom, gave their children an excellent education - and turned out to be incapable understand their interests, ideals and aspirations. The reader passes through the life of three generations of the Artamonov family - the indomitable Ilya Vasilyevich, a man with a wolfish grip and wolfish jaws, his sons - the stern workaholic Peter and the religious righteous Nikita - and grandchildren, who belong to a completely different generation, - the classic representative of the Russian intelligentsia Ilya and the frivolous bon vivant and life-lover Yakov. Family ties are destroyed - and death threatens the business for which so much work has been put in.