Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain descriptions of death, gun violence, and attempted suicide.

The play opens in the drawing room of the Prozorov family estate in the Russian countryside, where a dining table is prepared for lunch. Olga, the oldest of the three Prozorov sisters, is grading papers in her blue teacher uniform. Masha, the middle sister, is dressed in black and reading a book. Irina, the youngest, is in a white dress and is lost in thought. Olga notes that it is the first anniversary of their father’s death, which occurred on Irina’s birthday (May 5). Their despair at the time seemed insurmountable, but now, everything feels much lighter.

Olga begins to recount the dreary details of their father’s frigid funeral until Irina questions why she is talking about it at all. Olga explains that it is unseasonably warm today and that she remembers everything about the day their father moved them away from Moscow for his military promotion. That event occurred 11 years ago in early May, and it was already spring there. Olga complains that teaching exhausts and ages her, but the strength of her dream of Moscow only grows.