After extensive wanderings around the world, Vladimir Dubrovskiy returns to the Russian Empire with a new name and a new face: now a mysterious foreigner-Don Diego de la Vega. Arriving in Kistenevka, Dubrovskiy discovers that his native land is ruled by the landowners tyranny, and that robbers, using Dubrovskiy's name as cover, are rampaging along the roads. There, he meets his former lover, Masha, and finds himself drawn into a dangerous game against the family of the cruel Kirill Petrovich Troekurov, with whom Dubrovskiy has an old score to settle.