Country girl Tanka wakes up from the cold. Mother has already risen and thunders in her hands. The wanderer, who slept in their hut, also does not sleep. He begins to question Tanka, and the girl says that they had to sell a cow and a horse, there was only one calf.

The sale of the horse especially struck memory of Tankin. She recalls how her father haggled for a long time with gloomy horse-burghers, sold the horse for nothing, then hardly let the nurse out of the yard, and her mother voted for a long time, standing in the middle of the hut.

Then October came, frosts hit, and "Tanka every day had to be surprised at her mother." Last winter, Tank and even her younger brother Vaska went to bed late, basking on the stove. Father sewed short fur coats near the table, mother mend shirts or knitted mittens. In a low voice, she sang “old” songs, from which Tanya often wanted to cry.

That winter, children were not often allowed out of the hut. When they asked for a pond, their mother flinched them with a cup of hot potatoes and a slice of cool salted bread, and for dinner they always had a thick stew with pieces of lard.

Now, mother does not give bread or potatoes at all in the mornings, she dresses children and herself lets them go to the pond. In the evening, she puts Tanka and Vaska to bed early, and when they start asking for food, she says there is nothing to eat.

My father left for a long time to work, he was at home only once, he said that there was "trouble" everywhere - short fur coats were not sewn, and he only repaired them in some places from rich men. Only once did father bring herring and even a piece of salty zander. When the father left again, they almost completely stopped.

Tanya pretends to be asleep and hears her mother telling the wanderer about the hunger that has swept the entire district and crying because the children have nothing to eat. In order not to ask for food and not to upset her mother, Tanya quietly dresses and goes to the pond, intending to return only in the evening.

A light sled glides along the road from the city. In a sleigh sits a gray-haired old man, master Pavel Antonovich. He has been driving along this road for a long time. After the Crimean campaign, he lost almost all his fortune to cards and settled in the village forever. But here he was not lucky - his wife died, he had to release the serfs, to send his student son to Siberia. Then Pavel Antonych got used to loneliness, took up his stingy economy and became known as a greedy and gloomy man.

Noticing that the coachman has lost a leather whip on the road, Pavel Antonych sends him in search and further goes alone. Passing through the village, he notices Tanka, who is standing on the sidelines and warms a blue hand in her mouth. Pavel Antonovich stops, lures the girl in a sled and takes him to his estate. He wraps himself in the fur of a hungry, chilled and ragged child, and in his senile heart he becomes warmer. If a coachman were nearby, Pavel Antonych would not dare to do so.

Pavel Antonovich conducts Tanka through all the rooms of the estate, treats them with prunes, gives several pieces of sugar that the girl hides for her mother, makes her play hours and plays the guitar himself. Then they drink tea with milk and pretzels for a long time.

Tanya falls asleep, and Pavel Antonovich recalls the neighboring villages, their starving inhabitants, and thinks about what awaits Tanya, the future village beauty. Gently stepping on felt boots, he approaches, kisses the sleeping girl and stares at the portrait of his son for a long time.

And Tanya dreams of a garden surrounding the estate, and a sleigh running between the trees. Vaska is dreaming, the music of the clock and the voice of her mother, who either cries or sings sad old songs.