At the end of the 19th century, near the distant taiga village of Volchyi Nory, the merchant Golovanov started several apiaries. On one of them, he puts on the farm of the peasant Zakhar Strogov and his wife Agafya. Their son Matvey Strogov and Anna, his young wife, live with them. During a hunt, Matvey and his uncle, grandfather Fishka, find the corpse of a prospector, and he has several small gold nuggets.—Tango Papa