Fate threw the young man into a remote village with a servant for six months. He is unbearably bored. From this, he began teaching the servant to read and write, hunting in the forest, where there are many animals and birds. He found out that the real witch Manuilikha lived in the forest, in the swamps.

 Once, while hunting, he got lost and stumbled upon her hut, in a deep forest that did not know people. The witch is unhappy with the arrival of a guest, but at the sight of money she revives and agrees to tell fortunes to him. In the midst of the fortune-telling, the granddaughter of the witch Olesya, a dark-haired beauty, appears in the hut, who kindly accompanied him to the village.

 When the forest paths dry up, the hunter again goes to the witch, trying to learn something. They greeted him in the hut warmly. Olesya's fortune-telling brings sad news for the hunter: about the emergence of an extraordinary love that has no prospects. Olesya and Ivan have disputes, discussions. She attracts Ivan with her extraordinary mind, beautiful hair and dark eyes. The girl is charming and beautiful. Ivan is crazy about her.

 After a sudden fever that Ivan overcame, at the end of his business trip, he decides to take the girl with him to the city. But there are troubles after visiting the church: the girl is severely beaten by the townspeople. Being at her grandmother's hut, delirious, she decides to leave the forest with her and go to distant places where no one will find her.

 The hunter, rushing into the forest, realizes that he is late. And only bright red beads, like the bitter taste of unfulfilled, unfulfilled love, as a trace of a hasty escape from the evil world, remind him of the beautiful dark-haired with expressive eyes, Olesya, who has sunk into his soul for life.