The city of Warsaw, under Russian rule in the late 1870s, is the setting for this story. The middle-aged hero, Wokulski, bold and successful in business, is being destroyed by his obsessive love for the frigid, aristocratic society ‘doll’ Izabela. The embattled aristocracy, the new men of finance, Dickensian tradesmen and the urban poor all come vividly to life on the vast, superbly detailed canvas.