A first-person narrator recounts traveling with a group of women to St. Petersburg, detailing travel fatigue, social interactions, and the strains of foreign bureaucracy. Much of the account centers on her bond with Nicol Patoff, a charismatic former teacher whose reserved manner and references to nihilists and surveillance hint at hidden dangers. The narrative intertwines language lessons, growing affection, and the uneasy tension between personal trust and political suspicion.