"Poor Liza" begins in the darkness of the Danilov monastery, where the monks and elders are trying to escape from life. It is a depressing picture. All of the sadness brings to the author's mind the plundering of Moscow by the Tatars and Lithuanians.
Liza's story begins then. She lives with her mother who is elderly and needs Liza to do all of the work around the home, and to make money to support them. Liza goes frequently to Moscow to sell lilies of the valley. One one particular trip, a man offers her considerably more money than the flowers are worth, and asks that she sells her flowers exclusively to him from now on. This concerns her mother slightly, but when the man comes to the house to promise that she need not go to Moscow anymore because he will come to purchase his flowers directly from her at home, he wins her mother's trust. Liza's mother believes him to be a respectable gentleman. His actions certainly win Liza's admiration, but the girl is annoyed with herself for liking him, and for even dreaming that he might be interested in her. Instead she wishes that she could make herself fall in love with the handsome shepherd whom she sees.
The man, Erast, comes down the river on a boat at the same time Liza is taking her walk. He docks the boat next to her and her feelings grow stronger as they talk. He looks at her in a certain way, and she is charmed by this, falling completely in love. For his part, Erast is heady from her adoration and loves her innocent love for him. He forbids her from telling her mother about their meeting that evening because he is concerned she will interpret something that is not there and will worry for her daughter. They continue to see each other secretly until her mother unsettles her by choosing someone else for her Liza to marry. Liza and Erast make love, Liza's first time, but now he no longer sees her in the same way and the childish innocence that he was wildly attracted to has disappeared.
Gradually they see less and less of each other. One day, Erast tells Liza that he is joining the military and is going off to fight for the Russian motherland. Liza is devastated and heartbroken, and wishes that she could go with him, but she has so many responsibilities in taking care of her mother that it is just not possible. Erast vows to return safely and to continue to love her even when he is gone.
Two months pass, and Liza goes into town to buy some rosewater for her mother; it helps with her eyesight. In town she encounters Erast, who has now married a rich, middle-aged widow, having lost all of his own money gambling at card games. He tries to pay Liza off, giving her one hundred rubies, and telling her that they cannot go back to the way they were. She is devastated. She runs home and gives the rubies to another peasant girl, along with a message for her mother. Heartbroken, and feeling as though she has nothing left to live for, she drowns herself in the river. Her mother also passes away, and Erast, the cause of both women's deaths, is left poor and miserable, telling anyone who will listen about Liza.
