A young man, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, receives a strange letter from his uncle, a retired colonel and the owner of the village of Stepanchikovo. So the young man arrives at his uncle's estate and discovers that everyone in the house, including the owners, is forced to cater to the whims of the hanger-on, Foma Fomich Opiskin. The image of the Russian Tartuffe occupied Dostoevsky during his years of exile in Siberia. Having received a full amnesty and permission to publish in 1857, the writer took up the story. He placed great hope in the story, hoping to strengthen his literary standing. However, it was received coolly by his contemporaries; much later, when Dostoevsky's work could be judged in retrospect, his early story became extremely popular, and the protagonist's name became a household word. In the image of Foma Fomich Opiskin, one can recognize the heroes of Dostoevsky’s subsequent works, painfully experiencing their humiliated position and at the same time filled with ambition.