Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz and Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyryov are writers in Moscow in the 1930s. Berlioz is the chairman of the Moscow Writers’ Union (MASSOLIT) and the editor of an influential literary journal. Ivan is a young poet who often publishes his work under his nickname, Bezdomny (a Russian word for “homeless”). On a spring evening in Moscow, the two writers meet at Patriarch’s Ponds. Feeling suddenly overwhelmed with a “groundless fear” (7), Berlioz sees a strange, tall man seemingly levitating “without touching the ground” (8). He tells Ivan about this apparent hallucination and returns exhaustedly to their prior conversation. They talk about a poem Ivan wrote recently that denounces religion. In the poem, Ivan humanizes the historic figure of Jesus Christ, writing about him as though he were a real man with actual flaws. Berlioz criticizes the poem. He worries that the anti-religious poem does too good a job of bringing Jesus to life and insists that it must be rewritten.

As the writers talk, they are approached by a stranger. The stranger is dressed in an expensive suit and carries a cane, the handle of which is “shaped like a poodle’s head” (9). The stranger sits on the bench beside the writers, interrupts their discussion about Jesus, and assures the writers that Jesus was in fact a real man.