An important event is taking place in a small provincial town, an elderly rich prince arrives. The local "lioness" Maria Alexandrovna Moskaleva decides to marry him to her daughter Zinochka. But the "noble" Mordassov society is by no means inclined to voluntarily give up its positions: after all, in the head of every mother who has a marriageable daughter, the dream is to get a rich man as a son-in-law.