In the District Court, a jury hears about the fatal poisoning of a merchant Smyelkov. Among the three accused of the crime is the burgher Ekaterina Maslova, a prostitute. Maslova is innocent, but, as a result of a miscarriage of justice, she is sentenced to four years' hard labor in Siberia.[1]
At the trial, one of the jurors is Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov, who recognizes the defendant. About ten years ago, he seduced and abandoned her. Feeling guilty about this, Nekhlyudov decides to hire a well-known lawyer for her, to appeal her conviction, and to help her with money.[2]
Struck by the injustice in the court, Nekhlyudov begins to feel disgust for, and an aversion to, all the people with whom he interacts with in his daily life, in particular to the representatives of high society. He decides to abandon his current society and to go abroad. Nekhlyudov recalls Maslova - what he saw her at the trial, and then other moments he shared with her.[1]
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