M. Cassecruche is a French actor, left behind by his theatre troupe in St. Petersburg. It is October, the Russian winter is approaching and he is deep in debt. He wants nothing more than to escape his creditors and flee back to France, but he has only three sous to his name, and the Russian authorities are watching him.
Suddenly inspiration strikes him and he devises a cunning, elaborate, and hilarious plan to escape Russia. Not to mention, getting his own back on his unpleasant landlord.