After struggling for several years, he finally completed the story in 1904; however, it was not published until some of Tolstoy's shorter works were collected and anthologized after his death in 1910.

Dejected, under the instigation of a friend Makhin, Mitya simply changes a 2.50 rouble bond coupon to read 12.50 roubles, but this one evil deed sets off a chain of events that affects the lives of dozens of others, when his one falsehood indirectly causes a man to murder a woman at the end of Part I, and then seek redemption through religion in Part II.

Having written the novella in his dying years, after his excommunication, Tolstoy relishes the chance to unveil the "pseudo-piety and hypocrisy of organized religion."

"[3] Robert Bresson used Part I as the basis for his last film, L'Argent (1983), transposing the action from early nineteenth century tsarist Russia to capitalistic, present-day France.

[4] Bresson merges the characters of Ivan Mirinov and Stepán into "Yvon Targe", thus providing the ensemble cast with a concise protagonist and focusing more specifically in his story.