- A schoolteacher in a provincial town falls in love with and marries a young local woman. He thinks he"s found a bliss only described in novels. But before long, his sharp points of bliss become blurred. The loss of ideals and poverty of actual experience are the themes of these stories. Chekhov"s Russians, at the close of the 19th century are trapped in a prison of frustration, which he depicts with laconic power.