In "First Love," one of Turgenev's most celebrated works, Vladimir Petrovich, a middle-aged bachelor, is persuaded to write an account of his first love for a small group of friends who have been entertaining one another with romantic recollections. Vladimir's story takes place when he is 16 and living with his parents in their summer home outside of Moscow. Their neighbors are the Princess Zasyekin and her 21-year-old daughter Zinaida, who daily entertains an odd assortment of suitors. Zinaida gives Vladimir an honorary place among them as her "page," and he soon discovers that she has a secret lover. In a passionate rage, Vladimir is determined to find this lover and kill him but is horrified to learn of his own father's secret visits to Zinaida. His mother too learns of the infidelity, and their stay in the country is cut short. Tragically this episode colors everything Vladimir knows about his parents and all that he understands about love in general.