Ralph Fiennes, Sylvie Testud and Aleksandr Baluev star in this Russian adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's play. Married to a wealthy landowner, Natalya (Anna Vartanyan) laments losing her allure over the opposite sex as middle age approaches and finds herself increasingly jealous of her adopted daughter Vera (Anna Levanova)'s youthful beauty. When she employs 21-year-old student Aleksei Belyaev (Nikita Volkov) to tutor her son Natalya instantly falls in love with him but so too does Vera. While Natalya still welcomes the attention of family friend Mikhail (Fiennes), a bitter rivalry ensues between the two women as they compete for Aleksei's affection.