Called to serve on the jury of a murder trial, Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov is devastated to recognise the defendant, Katyusha, as a young woman he had drunkenly assaulted and then abandoned years before. Pregnant with his child, she was cast out of her home and had turned to prostitution to survive, only to be charged with poisoning a client who beat her. Struck by the tragic consequences of his selfish actions, Dmitri decides to give up his life of wealth and privilege to devote himself to rescuing Katyusha, even if it means following her into exile in Siberia. With its colourful cast of characters that range from peasants to aristocrats, and from bureaucrats to convicts, Tolstoy's novel, first published in 1899, creates a vivid panorama of Russian life.