: The cruel lady separates the deaf-mute servant from her beloved woman and forces her to drown the dog - the only friend. Following the order of the lady, the servant returns to his native village.

On one of the deaf Moscow streets, in a house with columns full of courtyards, lackeys and babies, an old widow lady lives. Her daughters got married long ago. The lady herself survives in recent years in solitude.

Her day, joyless and inclement, has long passed; but her evening was blacker than night.

The most noticeable person in the lady’s house is the janitor Gerasim, a mighty man, but deaf and dumb since birth. The lady brought him from her village, where Gerasim was considered the best worker. Growing up on earth, Gerasim longed for a long time and was hardly used to urban life. He fulfills his duties regularly - the surrounding thieves bypass the lady’s house. Yard is also afraid of the deaf-mute, but Gerasim does not touch them, considers for his own. He lives in a separate closet above the kitchen.

A year passes. The lady, who has unlimited power over the nobleman, decides to marry her shoemaker Kapiton Klimov. The shoemaker is a bitter drunkard, but the lady believes that after the wedding he will settle down. As a wife to Capiton, she chooses the timid, clogged washerwoman Tatyana and instructs the butler Gavrila to bring the matter to the wedding.

Tatyana, a thin and blond twenty-eight-year-old woman, like Gerasim. The janitor awkwardly takes care of her, protects her from taunts and waits for a new caftan in order to arrive in decent form to the lady for permission to marry Tatyana.

Gavrila ponders the problem for a long time: the lady favors Gerasim, but which husband is from a deaf-mute, and the mistress will not change her decision. Afraid of the mighty janitor and "groom." The butler secretly hopes that the lady will forget about her whim, as has already happened more than once, but his dreams have not been fulfilled - the lady asks about the wedding every day.

Finally, Gavrila remembers that Gerasim hates drunk people, and comes up with a trick: he persuades Tatiana to pretend to be drunk and walk in front of the janitor. The trick succeeds - Gerasim refuses Tatiana, and she marries Capiton.

A year passes. Kapiton finally gets drunk, and the lady sends him with Tatyana to a distant village. Gerasim gives Tatyana a red scarf, bought for her a year ago, and intends to spend it, but halfway turns back.

Returning along the river, Gerasim sees a drowning puppy in the water, catches him and carries him to his komorka. The janitor takes care of the little dog, and she turns into a "very good dog of the Spanish breed, with long ears, a fluffy tail in the form of a pipe and large expressive eyes" named Mumu.

She was extremely smart, caressed everyone, but loved only Gerasim. Gerasim himself loved her without memory ...

Mumu is everywhere accompanied by the deaf-mute, guards the yard at night and never barks in vain.Yard also loves a smart dog.

A year later, pacing the living room, the lady looks out the window and notices Mumu. On that day, the lady finds a “merry hour” - she laughs, jokes and demands the same from her rooting. They are afraid of such a mood of the hostess: "these outbursts did not last long for her and were usually replaced by a gloomy and sour mood."

Mum likes the mistress, and she orders to bring her to her quarters, but the frightened dog presses into a corner, begins to growl at the old woman and grin her teeth. The lady’s mood quickly deteriorates, and she orders Mumu to be taken away.

What trifles, you think, can sometimes upset a person!

All night the lady does not sleep and stays in a gloomy mood, but in the morning declares that she was prevented from falling asleep by a dog barking and orders to get rid of Mumu. A footman sells her for a half-fifty in Okhotny Ryad. Gerasim abandons his duties and searches for Mumu, does not find, begins to yearn, and after a day the dog comes to him herself with a piece of rope on her neck.

Gerasim managed to figure out that Mumu disappeared on the orders of the lady - with gestures they told him about the incident in the lords' chambers. He begins to hide the dog, but in vain - at night Mumu barks, the lady throws a tantrum, and Gavrila swears to her that soon the dog "will not be alive."

The butler goes to Gerasim and gestures to him the order of the lady. For its execution, Gerasim takes himself. Having dressed his best caftan, he nourishes Mumu in a tavern, then takes a boat and floats out in the middle of the river. Saying goodbye to his only friend, Gerasim ties the neck of Mumu with a rope with bricks tied to it and throws it into the water.

Gerasim heard nothing, not a quick screech of falling Mumu, nor a heavy splash of water; for him, the noisiest day was silent and soundless, like no quietest night was soundless for us.

Returning home, Gerasim quickly collects his things and sets off on foot to his native village. He hurries, "as if an old mother was waiting for him at home, as if she was calling him to her after a long wandering on a strange side, in strangers."

Three days later, Gerasim is already in place, and the elder gladly accepts him. In Moscow, Gerasim is long sought. Having discovered the former janitor in the village, the lady wants to write him back, but changes her mind - "she doesn’t need such an ungrateful person forever."

Gerasim still lives in his ramshackle hut, he doesn’t even look at women and "does not keep a single dog."