The short story focuses on a schoolmistress who is returning home after collecting her salary from the town. The weather is terrible, and makes the journey far longer than it should be. She meets a man named Hanov, an aging man who is joyful and seemingly ignorant of the misery of life. On this journey, Marya Vassilyevna ponders her life, her happiness and the repetition of it all. When a train go...