The book opens with the prison-cell door slamming behind Rubashov, whose casual survey of his new living quarters—and how they compare with previous prison cells he’s inhabited—illustrates his familiarity with incarceration. It’s not yet dawn, and Rubashov is asleep within a few minutes of being introduced to his new bed, apparently unconcerned by his situation.

Chapter 2 backtracks from the present moment of Chapter 1, describing the recurring dream Rubashov was having when he was arrested. The dream is of an earlier arrest, and the two realities—the dream of his first arrest and actuality of his most recent one—meld, weaving together the realities of both arrests.

Chapter 3 focuses on the details of Rubashov’s arrest when he wakes from his dream. The porter in his apartment building, Vassilij, an elderly civil war veteran and Rubashov’s friend, is compelled to bring the two arresting officers to Rubashov’s door. The officers, one older and one younger, display in brief what becomes apparent later in the book—that ideological differences often take the form of generational divides. The older officer, who knows Rubashov’s history with “the Party,” is more respectful of him, while the younger officer’s brutality, while restrained, is evident.

Chapter 4 describes the half-hour drive, in an American-made car, from Rubashov’s apartment to the prison.