The story opens in Moscow, at the home of an unnamed, wealthy, and elderly widow.
After being taken from his village,.
He is a man of almost superhuman strength, and was renowned in the country for his work in the fields.
Born deaf and mute, he communicates with the other servants of the estate via hand signs.
The exposition then focuses on one of her porters, Gerasim, a man from the countryside.
Mean and spiteful, she has been abandoned by whatever living friends and relatives she still has.
The story opens in Moscow, at the home of an unnamed, wealthy, and elderly widow