In the boarding house of Wanda Ogrodskaya and her younger sister Anna, live the rich widow Sophia Parmen with her governess Yanina and the young lawyer Pyotr Bukovich, with whom all the women of the house are in love. Mrs. Sophia invites the lawyer to marry her, but is refused - Peter loves the dowry-free Anna. In revenge, Sophia gives a rich dowry to her governess, and Peter marries Yanina.
An engineer living in a hotel room is visited by a local unsuccessful artist, the author of a painting that has been hanging on the wall of this room for many years. Once he gave it to his beloved woman, the director of the hotel. The meeting between the two men ended with the latter’s firm intention to paint the main picture of his life.
Gorky's play raises themes of the Russian intelligentsia's struggles and search for the meaning of life. The characters argue a lot, quarrel, tease each other, trying to change, if not their lives, then at least their outlook on it.
The transport vessel "Pamir" arrived in the fishing area. Due to weather conditions, the situation at the fishing grounds was difficult. The captain of the transport vessel Rodion Eliseev has a son who serves on a fishing trawler. But they have had a difficult relationship for more than ten years, Valentin still cannot forgive his father for leaving the family. And now father and son meet at sea...
