Karandyshev is a silly, obnoxious and vain person, but Larisa doesn't much care about that, wishing only to get away from it all and to live in the country.

It turns out he's about to marry a rich woman and now enjoys his last bachelor spree, selling ships he owns to get money to burn.

Karandyshev, just to show off, throws a party, inviting among others a young man Vozhevatov (Larisa's childhood friend), local millionaire Knurov (who'd earlier told Larisa's mother he'd be willing to become her daughter's 'sponsor' and take her to Paris should she feel inclined that way; the mother is quite receptive to the offer) and Paratov himself.

Knurov and Vozhevatov discuss her position among themselves too; they end up tossing a coin to decide which of them will be lucky enough to take her on to a romantic trip to Paris.

Drunk Karandyshev appears brandishing one of the Turkish pistols from his collection and implores Larisa to return home.

Yet, he continued to work upon the play all through the summer and autumn on his Shchelykovo estate, all the while negotiating the terms for the future stage production.

[3] Burdin appeared to be unhappy with the part of Knurov, which he deemed 'secondary', and suggested some cuts should be made in the text.

Larisa was played by Glikeriya Fedotova, Paratov by Alexander Lensky, Karandyshev by Mikhail Sadovsky, Knurov by Ivan Samarin.

Several days later the play was performed for the second time, as a benefit for Prov Sadovsky, with Maria Yermolova as Larisa.

In the early 1890s, Without a Dowry was successfully revived on stage by Vera Komissarzhevskaya, who created her own, unique version of the Larisa character.

[3] Konstantin Stanislavski directed production for his Society of Art and Literature (an organisation that aimed to bring together amateur and professional performers) that opened on 31 December [O.S.