In the morning, men from the Kursk province arrive at the Zvezdintsev’s house. Their appearance alarms the valet Fyodor Ivanovich, he tries to send uninvited guests to the courtyard, but the maid Tanya intervenes for the walkers: the peasants are her countrymen, in addition, one of them is the father of the barman Semyon, with whom the girl intends to associate fate. When Tanya finds out that the master refuses to sign an agreement on the sale of land, a cunning plan matures in her head.