The action begins on the Volga river in the beautiful town of Kalinov. Talk to Curley Kuligin and Shapkin. To walking come Wild with Boris and Kabanov with his son Tikhon and his wife Caterina. Kabanova scolds the son for what he does not discipline his wife. Barbara, daughter Kabanova talking with Katerina. Katerina seems sublime, romantic, very pious, dreamy. Strange lady foretells her ruin and death.House Kabanovich. Barbara says that he knows about love married Catherine in Boris and asks her to meet in secret. Tikhon, husband, leaving, listening to advice mother about how he needs to teach his Katherine, that she revered the mother. Barbara young gives his cousin a key and she meets with Boris in the garden.The husband arrives. Katerina tells him that he had a date with the nephew of the Wild. In the sky - a storm that conveys the state of the heroine.Life becomes intolerable. Even the affection of her husband, it just seems superfluous. Katerina is ready to go to Siberia for a loved one, even as an unlawful wife, but she refuses, citing the lack of money.Katerina all alone, feels his sin and finds no way out. She throws herself into the Volga. It pulls Kuligin with the words that this woman's body here, and the bright soul is already with God. It is a rebuke to the whole society, which brought Catherine to suicide.