The film is a screen version of the famous 1879 opera Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Tchaikovsky based on the 1825-1832 novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin.
Eugene Onegin, a jaded young dandy from the big city of St. Petersburg, travels to the country to ingratiate himself into the affection of a dying uncle.
Tatyana has disturbed dreams of Onegin and visits his uncle's estate to scan the books that he was reading so as to judge his character.
Several years pass, and the scene changes to St. Petersburg, to which Onegin has come to attend the most prominent balls and interact with the leaders of old Russian society.
While the modern opera-stage generally offers a reasonably personable Tatiana, a long line of portly tenors and baritones have made us forget that Lensky and Onegin should also be romantic figures, as they are here in the persons of Igor Ozerov and Vadim Medvedev, while Ariadna Shengelaya [...] brought a virginal Slavonic charm to Tatiana that the most glamorous prima donna could hardly be expected to rival.