: Caucasus, XIX century. The young officer fell in love with the beautiful Circassian woman and exchanged her for a horse stolen from a dashing highlander. The vengeful highlander kidnapped the Circassian woman and wounded her, the girl died in the arms of an officer.

The original narration is on behalf of a wandering officer, whose name is not mentioned in the novel.

The narrator-officer, wandering around the Caucasus, meets a fellow traveler - the old headquarters captain Maxim Maksimych, the former commandant of the fortress on the southern borders of Russia.

He tells him the story of a young officer Gregory Pechorin, who arrived to serve under his command.

Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus after some unpleasant story. The officer was a "glorious fellow", "but of those people with whom various extraordinary things must happen." He and Maxim Maksimych quickly became friends.

Once a local highland prince invited them to his daughter's wedding. There Pechorin met Bela, the youngest daughter of the prince.

The beauty is a horny woman, she was so strikingly different from all the secular beauties that were in Pechorin's life that he decided to steal her from her father's house.

Pechorin was prompted by this story by the story of Maxim Maksimych about the accidentally heard conversation between brother Bela and Kazbich, one of the guests of the prince who also liked the girl very much.

The boy asked Kazbich to sell him his horse, the best in all Kabarda, for any money, agreed to everything and even offered to steal his sister for him. But he refused, and this was in the hands of Pechorin.

You see how sometimes an unimportant case has cruel consequences.

Having promised the boy to help steal the horse from Kazbich as a reward for Bela, Pechorin got what he wanted, although without the approval of Maxim Maksimych. The girl’s brother brought her to the fortress, took the horse while Pechorin distracted Kazbich, and disappeared forever, fearing revenge on the dashing highlander. Kazbich was very upset by the deceit and loss of his horse; sooner or later his revenge should have affected the participants in the events.

Bela lived in a Russian fortress, homesick and not responding to Pechorin's courtship. He failed to melt the ice in her heart with neither words of love, nor gifts. But over time, her heart thawed, and she fell in love with him. Pechorin, by this time, began to cool towards Bela and was weighed down by her.

Love, like fire, goes out without food.

Boredom, the eternal companion of Pechorin, again began to overcome him. Increasingly, he went hunting for a long time, leaving the girl alone in the fortress.

Soon Kazbich showed up and kidnapped Bela. Hearing her scream, Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych rushed in pursuit.Kazbich, realizing that he could not leave, threw the girl, mortally wounding her. Bela died two days later in the arms of Pechorin. He experienced the loss deeply in himself and never spoke of Bel again. Soon after the funeral, he was transferred to another part.