Prince Dimitri comes from St. Petersburg to spend the summer in a rural district and falls in love with Katusha, an orphaned peasant girl who works for his relatives. Later, en route to the Turkish-Russian front, Dimitri's regiment bivouacs near the village, and Katusha secretly yields to his passion. Her condition soon arouses the suspicions of her aunt, and she is sent from the home in disgrace. Bereft by the death of her infant, Katusha is eventually reduced to surviving as a prostitute, and finds herself imprisoned on a charge of poisoning and robbing a merchant. Dimitri, summoned to the jury at her trial, feels his responsibility and agrees to marry her. Although innocent of the crime, Katusha is banished to Siberia. Their old love is rekindled, but she refuses to become his wife and bears her exile alone.