Dmitry Dmitrievich Gurov, under the age of forty, a Muscovite, a philologist by education, but working in a bank, is resting in Yalta. In Moscow there was an unloved wife whom he often cheated on, a daughter of twelve years old, two son-gymnasium students. In his appearance and character there is "something attractive, elusive that appealed to him women, attracted them ...". He himself despises women, considers them to be an “inferior race” and at the same time cannot do without them and is constantly looking for love adventures, having great experience in this. On the waterfront, he meets a young lady. This is a short-haired blonde in a beret; a white spitz ran after her. ” Vacationers call her "lady with a dog." Gurov decides that it would be nice to start an affair with her, and gets to know her during lunch in the city garden. Their conversation begins in the usual way: “Time passes quickly, but meanwhile there is such boredom! She said, not looking at him. " “It’s only customary to say that it’s boring here. The layman lives somewhere in Belev or Zhizdra - and he is not bored, but will come here: “Ah, how boring! ah, dust! “Think that he came from Grenada!” She laughed ...

Anna Sergeyevna was born in St. Petersburg, but came from the city of S., where she has been living for two years, having been married to an official by the name of von Dideritz (his grandfather was German, and he is Orthodox). Her husband's work does not interest her; she cannot even remember the name of the place of his service. Apparently, she does not love her husband and is unhappy in her life. “Something in her is pathetic after all,” Gurov notes. Their romance begins a week after meeting. She is experiencing her fall painfully, believing that Gurov the first will not respect her. He does not know what to answer. She fervently swears that she always wanted a clean and honest life, that her sin is disgusting. Gurov tries to calm her down, cheer her up, portrays a passion that she most likely does not feel. Their romance flows smoothly and as if nothing threatens both. They are waiting for the husband to come. But instead, he asks in a letter to return his wife. Gurov escorts her on horseback to the station; when they part, she does not cry, but she looks sad and sick. He is also “moved, sad,” experiencing “slight remorse”. After the departure of Anna Sergeyevna, he decides to return home.

Moscow life captures Gurov. He loves Moscow, its clubs, dinners in restaurants, where he alone "could eat a whole portion of the villagers in a frying pan." It would seem that he forgets about the Yalta novel, but suddenly for some reason he doesn’t care about the image of Anna Sergeyevna: “He heard her breath, the gentle rustle of her clothes. On the street, he watched the women, looking for someone like her ... ”Love wakes up in him, it is all the more difficult for him to bear it because there is no one to share his feelings with. Finally, Gurov decides to go to the city of S. He rents a hotel room, finds out from the doorman where von Dideritz lives, but since he cannot directly pay them a visit, he lies in wait for Anna Sergeyevna in the theater. There she sees her husband, in whom there is “something lackey-modest” and who fully corresponds to the provincial boredom and vulgarity of the city S. Anna Sergeyevna is afraid of meeting, begs Gurov to leave and promises herself to come to him. She lies to her husband that she is going to consult about a woman’s disease, and every two to three months she meets with Gurov in Moscow at the Slavyansky Bazar Hotel.

At the end, their meeting is described - not the first and, apparently, not the last. She is crying. He orders tea and thinks: “Well, let her cry ...” Then he approaches her and takes her by the shoulders. He sees in the mirror that his head is starting to turn gray, that he has grown old and has become sour in recent years. He understands that he and she made a fatal mistake in life, he and she were not happy, and only now, when old age is close, they truly knew love. They are close to each other as husband and wife; their meeting is the most important thing in their life.

“And it seemed that a little more - and a solution will be found, and then a new, beautiful life will begin; and it was clear to both that the end was still far, far away and that the most difficult and difficult was just beginning. ”