Tolstoy's story, "Three Deaths" (1858), has been condescended to by his greatest critics. This is what Bakhtin wrote: "This work, not large in size but nevertheless tri-leveled, is very characteristic of Tolstoy's monologic manner."

Three deaths are portrayed in the story – the deaths of a rich noblewoman, a coachman, and a tree.

Other story in the book: ‘Two Hussars' is about the impression that a count creates on people in a small town, and how many years later his son comes to the same place, but leaves a different sort of impression.