Constantin visits his ailing brother Nicolas in a modest room, where Nicolas attempts to explain his new professional artel project designed to liberate peasants from the grip of capitalist exploitation. Constantin observes his brother's sickly appearance and growing frailty, feeling deep pity while remaining skeptical about the practicality of the cooperative scheme. Nicolas quickly becomes irritable, suspecting Constantin of harboring aristocratic prejudices and launching into angry complaints about their other brother Serge and his published writings.
As the conversation grows tense, Kritzki prepares to leave, and Constantin uses the moment to speak privately with Maria-Nicolaevna. She reveals that Nicolas's health has deteriorated significantly and that he has developed a destructive habit of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. When Nicolas returns to the room, he notices them whispering and reacts with a flash of anger before quickly shifting back to a warmer, more welcoming mood. He begins consuming more liquor with frantic eagerness and questions Constantin about his life in the countryside and why he has not yet married.
Nicolas reminisces nostalgically about their family estate, the old birch trees, and their shared past, expressing a bitter regret that his own life has been ruined by past financial grievances. Constantin tries to navigate the delicate emotional terrain, refusing to take sides in the ongoing family feud and offering genuine personal affection to his troubled brother. Moved by this unexpected compassion, Nicolas softens momentarily but soon lapses into erratic behavior, criticizing modern social institutions and expressing a deep, terrifying dread of death. Exhausted by the emotional turbulence, Constantin and Maria-Nicolaevna finally manage to calm him down, get him to bed, and agree to stay in touch regarding his worsening condition.