This powerful drama about the social ferment that culminated in the 1917 Russian Revolution is set on an estate in provincial Russia in 1905. In a sun-dappled garden, some factory owners and their wives discuss the unrest among the workers. Rather than submit to a strike, they decide to close down the factory. When an owner is slain in a scuffle with a workman, the ensuing investigation uncovers the socialist fervor that is sweeping the countryside. The play goes beyond depicting class struggle by keenly examining the gulfs between youth and old age, vision and shortsightedness, and conservatism versus change.