A Young Doctor's Notebook and Other Stories

The hospital learns that the Zemstvo is coming for an inspection, sending the young doctor and Pelageya into a panic as they fear the discovery of a morphine shortfall. They cover their tracks by re-filling the bottles with water, but the arrival of a group of injured soldiers leads to a life-threatening mix-up.

The young doctor desperately tries to replace his depleted morphine supply, turning to cocaine and becoming increasingly shambolic. He meets a beautiful aristocrat, Natasha, who invites the staff to a supper, where he discovers she is intelligent and cultured. He becomes besotted and his new attraction prompts him to leave Pelageya, accusing her of nurturing his morphine addiction.

The old doctor visits the young doctor, announcing that he wants to write an opera in an attempt at cathartic self-discovery. He wants to discuss what happened with Pelageya, but the young doctor just wants to talk about Natasha, wondering whether her engagement is a forced aristocratic arrangement. Pelageya becomes seriously ill, and the young doctor is caught up between the two women.

Natasha departs, leaving the doctor to drown his sorrows. He wakes to find two Bolsheviks demanding to know where all the medicine is. He sets them on a false path toward the supply train, implicating the white guard. As he realizes his mistake he goes after them, but will he make it in time and will he leave those dearest to him to pay for his mistakes?