Set within the convention of a psychological salon drama, this film offers a look into the world of the Moscow nouveau riche. Its heroine is the pampered independent wife of a man whose wealth and position are rooted in a shady past. The wife, accompanied by various different chauffeurs, whiles away her time in beauty salons and boutiques, she visits an astrologist, gazes at male striptease artists with her fashionable girlfriends and organises parties. Her husband supposedly leaves town and she is left alone in their luxury flat with its view onto the church of the Holy Saviour. An attractive man arrives to repair the fireplace, stirring feelings in the bored woman. She has no idea that he has come to avenge the husband’s trickery and betrayal. The latter, however, is observing what is going on in the flat through a telescope he has set up in a nearby house. He has moved in with his wife’s friend, a former lover, who has staged the whole event. She tells him that his wife’s flirtation has developed into a passionate affair. A dramatic encounter between the two men ensues. The woman out on the terrace, disgusted by the events which led to the conflict, and by herself, chooses a liberating solution: “falling up”.