After Leo Tolstoy’s novel.
Prince Stepan Kasatsky begins a successful career in the military and general high society but discovers on the eve of his wedding his fiancée's affair with Tsar Nicholas I. Upset, he gives up a brilliant career at court and becomes a monk, taking the name father Sergius. Many years of humility and doubt follow, he performs miracles upon the village natives. Moments of temptation test his faith, and unfortunate instances of female provocation leads to his failure.