Based on Chekhov's short story of the same name. Medical student Stepan Klochkov lives with Anya in the cheap Lisbon Hotel. She earns a living by sewing, and in her free time helps Klochkov with his studies, allowing him to use her body as an anatomical atlas. Their neighbor, an artist, asks the student to "borrow" her as a model for the role of Psyche. Anya initially refuses, but Klochkov manages to persuade her.