The story takes place in 1833 in Moscow, the main character - Volodya - is sixteen years old, he lives with his parents in the country and is preparing to enter the university. Soon, the family of Princess Zasekina enters a poor outbuilding in the neighborhood. Volodya accidentally sees the princess and really wants to meet her. The next day, his mother receives an illiterate letter from Princess Zasekina requesting her protection. Mother sends Princess Volodya with an oral invitation to visit her house. There Volodya met with the princess - Zinaida Alexandrovna, who is five years older than him. The princess immediately calls him into her room to unravel the wool, flirts with him, but quickly loses interest in him. On the same day, Princess Zasekina paid a visit to his mother and made an extremely unfavorable impression on her. However, despite this, the mother invites her along with her daughter for lunch. During lunch, the princess sniffs tobacco noisily, fidgets in a chair, spins around, complains about poverty and talks about her endless bills, and the princess, on the contrary, is stately - the whole dinner speaks to Volodin’s father in French, but looks at him with hostility. She does not pay attention to Volodya, however, leaving, she whispers to him to come to them in the evening.
Having come to the Zasekin, Volodya met with the princess’s admirers: Dr. Lushin, poet Maydanov, Count Malevsky, retired captain Nirmatsky and hussar Belovzorov. The evening is stormy and fun. Volodya feels happy: he has the chance to kiss Zinaida’s hand, all night Zinaida does not let him go and prefers him over others. The next day, his father asks him about the Zasekins, then he goes to them. After lunch, Volodya goes to visit Zinaida, but she does not go to him. From this day Volodya of torment begins.
In the absence of Zinaida, he languishes, but even in her presence he does not feel better, he is jealous, offended, but cannot live without her. Zinaida easily guesses that he is in love with her. Zinaida rarely goes to the house of Volodya’s parents: her mother doesn’t like her, her father speaks little to her, but somehow is especially clever and significant.
Suddenly Zinaida is changing a lot. She leaves for a walk alone and walks for a long time, sometimes she doesn’t show herself to guests at all: she sits in her room for hours. Volodya realizes that she is in love, but does not understand - with whom.
Once Volodya was sitting on the wall of a dilapidated greenhouse. Below on the road appears Zinaida. Seeing him, she orders him to jump onto the road if he really loves her. Volodya immediately jumps and for a moment loses feelings. The alarmed Zinaida bustles around him and suddenly begins to kiss him, however, having guessed that he has come to his senses, he gets up and, having forbidden him to follow himself, leaves. Volodya is happy, but the next day, when he meets with Zinaida, she keeps herself very simply, as if nothing had happened.
Once they meet in the garden: Volodya wants to pass by, but Zinaida herself stops him. She is sweet, quiet and amiable with him, invites him to be her friend and favors the title of her page. Between Volodya and Count Malevsky, a conversation occurs in which Malevsky says that the pages should know everything about their queens and follow them relentlessly, day and night. It is not known whether Malevsky attached special significance to what he said, but Volodya decided to go on guard at night, taking an English knife with him. In the garden, he sees his father, is very scared, loses a knife and immediately returns home. The next day Volodya tries to talk about everything with Zinaida, but a twelve-year-old cadet comes to her, and Zinaida instructs Volodya to entertain him. On the evening of the same day, Zinaida, having found Volodya in the garden, inadvertently asks him why he is so sad. Volodya is crying and rebuking her that she plays them. Zinaida begs forgiveness, consoles him, and after a quarter of an hour he already runs with Zinaida and the cadet and starts laughing.
For a week Volodya continues to communicate with Zinaida, driving away all thoughts and memories from himself. Finally, returning one day to dinner, he learns that a scene occurred between father and mother, that the mother rebuked her father in connection with Zinaida, and that she learned about this from an anonymous letter. The next day, mother announces that she is moving to the city. Before leaving, Volodya decides to say goodbye to Zinaida and tells her that he will love and adore her until the end of days.
Volodya once again accidentally sees Zinaida. He and his father ride a horse ride, and suddenly the father, dismounting and giving him the reins of his horse, disappears in the alley. After some time Volodya follows after him and sees that he is talking through the window with Zinaida. The father insists on something, Zinaida does not agree, finally she reaches out to him, and then the father raises his whip and sharply hits her bare arm. Zinaida shudders and, silently raising her hand to her lips, kisses the scar. Volodya runs away.
Some time later, Volodya moved with his parents to St. Petersburg, entered the university, and six months later his father died of a stroke, a few days before his death he received a letter from Moscow, which excited him very much. After his death, his wife sends a fairly significant amount of money to Moscow.
Four years later, Volodya meets Maydanov in the theater, who tells him that Zinaida is now in St. Petersburg, she happily married and is going abroad. Although, Maidanov adds, after that story it was not easy for her to form a party; there were consequences ... but with her mind everything is possible. Maidanov gives Volodya the address of Zinaida, but he goes to her only a few weeks later and finds out that she suddenly died of childbirth four days ago.
