In the chambers of a Russian courthouse, law professionals discuss current events. They discover an obituary for their colleague Ivan Ilyich Golovin in a newspaper, who died on February 4, 1882. Upon hearing of his death, his colleagues are immediately concerned with “the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances” (247). In addition to opening career avenues for former colleagues, Ivan Ilyich’s death brings obligations for the lawyers, who now “have to fulfill the very tiresome demands of propriety by attending the funeral service and paying a visit of condolence to the widow” (248). Among these professional acquaintances is Peter Ivanovich, who delays a card game to attend the funeral service at Ivan Ilyich’s home.

At the service, Peter Ivanovich wonders how to behave properly, quickly settling on bowing and crossing himself. Throughout the service, he is primarily concerned with whether he’ll make it to the evening’s card game. Schwartz, a fellow work colleague, is also eager to get to the card game, and Praskovya Fedorovna Golovina, Ivan Ilyich’s widow, is interested only in Peter Ivanovich’s knowledge of how she might increase her widow’s pension. Praskovya Fedorovna interrupts her inquiries about her husband’s pension to discuss the price of a gravesite with her butler, and the conversation with Peter Ivanovich comes to an unsatisfying end.