Based on the eponymous novel by A.I. Herzen.

The action takes place in Odessa in the 1970s. Rosa, an Odessa woman, a mother and the head of the household, says goodbye to the Courtyard where her entire life unfolded, because her sons have decided to emigrate to Israel and take the elderly parents — her mother and father — with them. A staunch patriot and war veteran, Semen Margolin is ready to curse his children for such a betrayal, but with the help of his mother Rosa, he is somehow persuaded to make the move.

This play is one of the repertory plays of Russian theater – in the first year of production (1878) it was on the stage of seventy provincial theaters. The main interest of the audience was the triangular relationship conceived according to the plot as the basis of a dramatic intrigue.

A certain Chumakov addressed the People's Judge Kavelin. He brought a statement of claim to his son, Sergey Gribanov, in which he demands care, love and alimony from him. Chumakov, who left his family when the boy was two years old, is now afraid to be alone, because Sergei's stepfather has become a real, loving father... Judge Kavelin has to figure out this difficult, but unfortunately, life-changing situation.