Lisa Turaeva and Kostya Karnovsky met at the gymnasium ball. They danced together all evening, and then decided to chat. Fate gave them very few meetings, so a long, from 1910 to 1932, correspondence became an important part of their life.
Lisa’s mother died long ago, her father, a regimental officer, married a “powerful, suspicious” woman. Having finished the boarding school, Lisa studies at the gymnasium and at the same time gives lessons in the village in order to be able to go to St. Petersburg and enroll in the mathematics department of the Bestuzhev courses. She has the ability to draw, but mathematics, in her opinion, is "the shortest path to independent thinking." On the way to Petersburg in the autumn of 1913, Lisa secretly calls in Kazan, where the mathematics student Karnovsky lives and studies. They spend a wonderful day together.
Konstantin Pavlovich Karnovsky was born in Kazan, in a large philistine poor family. Both at the time of his father and after his death, the children lived in constant humiliation. But Kostya managed to defend his independence: he worked hard, entered the university and began to provide for the whole family. Even when Kostya was preparing to enter the gymnasium, an internal “countdown” began for him: not a minute could be lost in vain. But the established order of his life turned over every time he met Lisa. Her "grace, sincerity and nonchalance" spoke of the existence of "some kind of immutable truth, which was stronger than all his mathematics and did not require any proof."
In St. Petersburg, Lisa listens to lectures, goes to theaters and museums. In one of the letters she talks about a trip to Aunt in Moscow - here, on a debate about painting, she suddenly really wanted to be the same as the artist Goncharova. Lisa is waiting for a meeting with Bones: it seems to her that only with him can she share her doubts, hopes and desires. After all, Karnovsky “lives consciously, does not rush from side to side,” like her. But a short visit to Kazan on the road to Yalta, where Lisa is going to treat her lungs, does not give her satisfaction: she doubts Karnovsky, his love.
Lisa is fond of painting, but, realizing that it is too expensive a pleasure, she continues to study mathematics. Yet one day she decides not to “pretend to herself” anymore and enters the art workshop, works a lot with Dobuzhinsky, Yakovlev. She had not seen Karnovsky for a long time. But next to her is a courteous and in love with Dmitry Gorin. After Kostya did not come to Petersburg, Lisa sends him a bitter letter asking him not to write to her again.
Correspondence nevertheless continues, but Lysina's letters are so cold that it alarms Karnovsky, and he goes to Petersburg. Kostya is delighted with Lisa: she has become even more beautiful, moreover, he finally realizes that in front of him is a born artist.
And then Lisa goes to Kazan. On her way to Moscow, she visits the Shchukin Gallery, looks with amazement and bewilderment at the paintings of Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh. The awkwardness that Lisa feels at the cold and unkind reception in the Karnovsky family, the fear of losing independence, and even the accidental mention of some kind of “Marisha” make Lisa suddenly leave, without even saying goodbye to Kostya.
Now it is Karnovsky’s turn to return unopened letters. He is only busy with work: he teaches at the university, at twenty-seven he is elected professor at the Polytechnic Institute. But when Kostya finds out that Lisa can’t return from Yalta captured by the Germans, he decides to go there, despite all the difficulties. Only mother’s illness makes Karnovsky stay.
In 1920, Yalta was freed, but Lisa was no longer there. Karnovsky receives a letter from her from Constantinople: Lisa went there with a familiar Greek merchant, who then promised to take her to Paris, but turned out to be a dirty villain. Lisa manages to get rid of him, but has to stay in Turkey. To earn money, Lisa gives lessons, plays the piano in the pub. In letters to Karnovsky she often recalls their meetings, but now all this is a past that must be forgotten. Now Lisa is married to a "simple, honest" man who lost his leg in the war. The husband is younger than her, and she rather feels pity for him. For a while, Lisa was fond of the artist Gordeev, but still finds the strength to stay with her husband.
Finally Lisa gets to Paris. Here, with the help of Gordeev, she arranges to paint cabarets and restaurants based on other people's sketches. This work makes it possible to live at the very least, but leaves little time for one’s own creativity. Nevertheless, Lisa is making progress: four of her works are being bought by the London Museum. In her free moments, Lisa writes to Karnovsky. She wants to know and understand the new life of Russia. She often reflects on the art of true and false, the need for "spiritual creativity." At the end of letters, Lisa often sends greetings to Nadia, a young actress, companion of Konstantin Pavlovich.
In the summer of 1925, Karnovsky came to Paris. He meets with Academician Chevandier, then comes to visit Lisa in Menil. But the jealous Gordeev, to whom Lisa returned again, almost leaves them alone. Konstantin Pavlovich examines the work of Lisa, one of the canvases is similar to her letters to him: it depicts a mirror. Indeed, the correspondence with Karnovsky was for Lisa Turaeva that mirror, "which she looked all her life." Alone, Karnovsky and Lisa spend only ten minutes.
Another time, when Karnovsky is in Paris, Lisa goes to him secretly. But Konstantin Pavlovich begins an attack of malaria, and Lisa, at the cost of breaking with Gordeev, remains with her beloved all day. Now she is free. In one of the letters, Lisa reflects on love, which constantly separated them, but thereby protected from vulgarity, taught morality and patience, cleansed the soul and led it to self-knowledge.
In March of the thirty-second year, Elizaveta Nikolaevna receives a letter from a Moscow doctor who informs her of a serious illness of Konstantin Pavlovich. Protecting her beloved from grief, Lisa embellishes reality in her letters. In fact, there is almost no hope of returning to their homeland, life is becoming increasingly difficult, but she works a lot in Paris and Corsica, where she has Italian friends. Karnovsky is recovering, he manages to get permission for Lisa to return to Russia. And Elizaveta Nikolaevna finally achieves recognition: her exhibition is being successfully held in Paris. Only the artist has almost no strength left. “I hid from you that I was very ill, but now that I know that I will see you soon ...” - this last line completes the correspondence of Elizaveta Turaeva and Konstantin Karnovsky.
