The setting is the estate of the wealthy Sorin, where a group of family and friends are spending the languid summer months. Included are Madame Arkadina, Sorin's sister and famous actress; her sensitive would-be-writer son, Treplyev; and the charming, successful author Trigorin. The action concerns the interweaving of their lives with the others, and all the romance, intrigue, hopes and disappointments that this life leads to.