Originally published in 1912, this lyrical novel is set in a rambling manor house in central Poland during the doomed January Uprising of 1863 to 1864, when a volunteer Polish army futilely fought the Russian occupation of the eastern partition. A badly wounded soldier appears outside the house and is cared for by Salomea, the young ward of the absent owners, who has been left in the manor with an aged servant. As the two strive to conceal the soldier's presence during brutal and invasive visits by the Russian forces, Salomea finds herself falling in love with her patient.