It describes his search for the answer to the ultimate philosophical question: "If God does not exist, since death is inevitable, what is the meaning of life?"

The man clings to a branch inside the well that is being gnawed on by two mice (one black, one white, representing night and day and the relentless march of time).

In this hopeless situation the man looks for and finds a few drops of honey which stick to a leaf on his branch.

Tolstoy on the other hand is no longer able to enjoy that which these drops represent for him: The love of his family and his writing.

The book was originally titled An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, as the first part of a four-part work that also included A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated (the basis for The Gospel in Brief), and What I Believe (also published in English as My Religion and My Faith).

[2] The first attempt at its publication took place in 1882 (Russkaya Mysl, No 5), but Tolstoy's work was removed virtually from the whole edition of the journal (i.e. periodical magazine) by Eastern Orthodox Church censorship.

[3] The book is discussed at length and quoted from in William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience[4] and also in Maurice O'Connor Drury's The Danger of Words.