Life of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev is full of serious trials and exciting meetings. Noble origin and wealth, it would seem, could not help but provide him with a completely prosperous and happy existence. But, having chosen the literary field once and for all, Turgenev condemned himself to loneliness and misunderstanding - both by literary brothers and people close to him. Yuri Lebedev, a well-known researcher of Turgenev's life and work, talks in detail about the complex relationship of his hero with key figures of that era: Bakunin, Belinsky, Nekrasov, Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy, Goncharov, Fet and many others.