Returning home from the University of St. Petersburg, Arkady Kirsanov discovers that, while he has changed, the world he left behind has remained the same. He and his companion, the nihilistic Bazarov, find themselves at odds with their parents. Neither can accept the romantic aristocratic traditions of their families, but they struggle with the new values of liberalism and the enlightenment as each one falls in love.

Set in a turbulent era of political reform and social change, Fathers and Sons is one of the true classics of Russian literature, presenting a powerful portrait of 19th-century Russian society.