Vera Kholodnaya answers an ad for a reader. Her prospective employer, Arsenii Bibikov insists that she never be accompanied by a man to or from work, and that if she get engaged, she is to tell him. It turns out that his rake of a son, Vitold Polonsky, catches a glimpse of her and sets his cap.
Like many of director Pyotr Chardynin's movies in this period, the wealthy are perceived as rapacious. Chardynin had begin directing movies in 1909 and exhibited a taste for literary properties, like Gogol and Gorky The company of actors he drew on was enormously popular, and he continued working, albeit at a slower rate, through the end of the silent era. Although this movie is more of a potboiler than a prestige picture, it's still an entertaining short feature that demonstrates that, yes, there was a thriving Russian film industry before the Academicians took over.
