Based on an historical incident, the play finds the great Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, in a mess. In addition to promising his publisher a new manuscript, he has also agreed to a serious penalty: if Dostoevsky can't provide the manuscript by a certain date, the rights to all of his works will revert to the publisher, rendering Dostoevsky penniless. So with the deadline looming, his friends decide to hire him a secretary to help him organize his messy writing habits. All are appalled when, expecting a man, the agency sends over Anna Snitkina, who was first in her class with the new fangled skill of stenography. Although an inauspicious beginning, Anna gradually wins over Dostoevsky, helping him not only with his manuscript, but emotionally and romantically as well.