The play takes place in the drawing room of Elena Ivanovna Popova's estate exactly seven months after her husband's death.

Popova agrees to meet him and Smirnov explains to her that her late husband owes him a sum of 1,200 roubles as a debt.

Luka overhears their conversation, gets frightened for his mistress, and goes off to find someone to help put an end to their feud before anyone gets hurt.

The Bear is one of many of Chekhov's "farce-vaudevilles", which also includes The Proposal, A Tragedian in Spite of Himself, and the unfinished Night before the Trial.

Les Jurons de Cadillac was originally performed by the actor Nikolai Solovstov, whom Chekhov dedicates The Bear to and ultimately plays the role of Smirnov.

In Chekhov's lifetime it brought in regular royalties, and it has constantly been revived on both professional and amateur stages worldwide since.

It was also the inspiration for the second act of the 1979 musical A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, which cleverly transformed the story into a Marx Brothers comedy.

On October 12, 1950, The Nash Airflyte Theater presented The Boor, starring Fredric March, on CBS-TV.

[6] In 2000 it was made into a short film, Speed for Thespians, in which a group of actors put on The Bear on a New York City bus.