The story is conducted in the first person. A storyteller named Misail Poloznev lives with his father-architect and sister Cleopatra in a provincial town. Their mother is dead. The father raised the children in severity and, when they became adults, continues to demand complete submission. He succeeds with Cleopatra, but Misail lost control. He changes one job after another, not being able to get along with his bosses and not wanting to do boring clerical work. He cannot and does not want to dissolve in the boredom and vulgarity of provincial life. Dreaming of a real case. It angers the father, scares the sister. Often the hero attends amateur performances in the rich landowner house of the Azhogins. Local society gathers, two girls come: the daughter of engineer Masha Dolzhnikova and Anyuta Blagovo - the daughter of a comrade of the chairman of the court. Annie secretly in love with Misaila. Through her father, she helps him get a job with engineer Dolzhikov for the construction of the railway. Dolzhikov is an arrogant, stupid person and also a pretty boor. While talking, he seems to constantly forget that in front of him the son of a city architect, humiliates him, like an ordinary unemployed. Having assumed the post of telegraph operator, Misail meets Ivan Cheprakov, the son of a general, a childhood friend. He is a drunk man who does not understand the meaning of his work and does nothing all day.

By the way, they recall that Misael was nicknamed in childhood - "Little Good."

All together: Dolzhikov, Azhogin, the father of Misail, Cheprakov - they represent a picture of the provincial intelligentsia, decomposed, stolen, lost the beginnings of education. Misiel sees all this and cannot come to terms with it. He is drawn to ordinary people, workers and peasants. He is going to work as a house painter under the contractor Andrei Ivanov (in the city he was called Redka and they said that this was his real name). This is a strange person, a little philosopher. His favorite phrase: "Aphids eat grass, rust - iron, and lies - the soul." As soon as Misail became a worker, the "noble" part of the city turns away from him. Even Anyuta Blagovo said that he should not greet her in front of everyone. Father curses his son. Now Misail lives in the city suburbs with his nanny Karpovna and her adopted son, the butcher Prokofy. The last - as if Misail, on the contrary. He is from peasants, but reaches into the "noble." He says this: “I, mother, can give you condescension ... In this earthly life I will nourish you in old age in vale, and when I die, I’ll bury you at my own expense.” Misail and Prokofiy do not like each other, But the painters treat Misail with reverence: like that he does not drink and does not smoke and leads a sedate life.

Misaila is often visited by the sister and brother of Anyuta, Dr. Vladimir Blagovo. He is in love with Cleopatra, and she loves him. But he is married, they meet secretly. Between the doctor and Misail there is talk about the meaning of existence, about progress, etc. Misail thinks that everyone is obliged to do physical labor, no one has the right to use the fruits of other people's labor. Tolstoy’s ideas slip in his words. The doctor is a fan of European progress and an opponent of personal self-improvement. At the same time, he is tired of life and isolating himself, living a double life.

Someone sometimes sends Misail tea, lemons, cookies and fried hazel grouse, probably in order to ease his burden of life. (Later it turns out that Anyuta Blagovo did this.) Finally, the "noble" are reconciled with his act, they even begin to openly respect him. Masha Dolzhikova comes to him and complains of boredom, calls him “the most interesting person in the city” and asks to be in their house. Away everyone is asked to talk about the painters; it is clear that the life of a common people seems exotic, unknown. And again, disputes about the meaning of life, about progress. Unlike “society,” Misael’s father cannot forgive him for leaving home. He appeals to the governor with a request to influence the son, who, in his opinion, defames the honor of the nobleman. The governor can do nothing and only finds himself in an awkward position, causing Misael to talk.

In the life of the hero again a major change. Masha Dolzhikova and he are in love with each other and become husband and wife. Settled in the estate Dubecnya, which engineer Dolzhikov bought from Generalsha Cheprakova, they enthusiastically begin to engage in agriculture. This work captivates Misael. At first, Masha likes her too. She writes books on agriculture, builds a school in the village, and tries to establish contact with the peasants. But she does not succeed well. The peasants are trying to deceive them, they drink, they work reluctantly and do not hesitate to rude Masha: “I would go and carry it myself!” They clearly take Misail and Masha for fools and fake masters. Masha very quickly became disappointed in peasants and village life. Misiel looks deeper. He sees that with all the depravity in the peasants, spiritual purity has been preserved. They want justice and are angry that they should work for idle people. The fact that they work daily and do not have time for boredom is their advantage over the “noble” ones. But Masha does not want to understand this. It turns out that she did not so much love Misael as she wanted freedom and independence. She is a bird of another flight. Once she leaves and does not return. Misail receives a letter where she writes that she is traveling with her father to America and asking for a divorce. Misail is having a hard time; with the loss of Masha, everything that is light in his life seems to end and gray days come, just “life” begins without hopes and ideals.

“Life” is complicated by the fact that Misael's sister left her father and lives with her brother. She is pregnant by a doctor and is sick with consumption. Misail asks his father to take care of her, but he drives away his son and does not want to forgive his daughter. Prokofiy, the son of a nanny, also demands that Misael and his pregnant sister leave his house, because - "for such a vale, people will not praise us or you." And here is the Radish - regrets Misail and sister and condemns the doctor: “Your high nobility, there will be no kingdom of heaven for you!” The doctor jokingly retorts: "What to do, you have to be someone in hell."

The last chapter of the story is a kind of epilogue. The narrator “grew old, became silent, harsh”; he works as a contractor instead of Radish. There is no father in the house. His wife lives abroad. Sister died, leaving her daughter. Together with little Misail, he goes to his sister’s grave on holidays and sometimes meets Anyuta Blagovo there. She apparently still loves Misael and still hides it. Caressing Cleopatra’s little daughter, Misail’s niece, she gives vent to feelings, but - as soon as they enter the city, she becomes strict and cold, as if there was nothing between her and the girl.