Dimitri Sanin is a young Russian man from a humble background who travels to Frankfurt. In this city he falls in love with Gemma, who is already engaged. Despite the social gap, Dimitri decides to work in Gemma's family bakery, looking for a way to marry her. The action centers on the relationship of the two young people, a brief love affair and the difficulties they face.

Turgeniev builds a beautiful story, incisive, emotional and more tragic than usual. At the same time, he shows with mastery and depth the psychology of the female characters. An atmosphere is created in which everything seems to be a hymn to youth, spring and love, but in reality it is not exactly like that. Without tragedy, he achieves an excellent result, a great novel.