The novel opens with a scene introducing Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky ('Stiva'), a Moscow aristocrat and civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife Darya Alexandrovna ('Dolly'). Dolly has discovered his affair with the family's governess, and the household and family are in turmoil. Stiva's affair and his reaction to his wife's distress show an amorous personality that he cannot seem to suppress. In the midst of the turmoil, Stiva informs the household that his married sister, Anna