The Prozorov sisters live in their family home, a year after their father has died. Olga is the oldest, a schoolteacher. Masha is the middle sister, a moody woman who spends her time lounging on couches, reading, and trying to avoid her simple-minded husband, a Latin teacher named Kulygin. Irina is the youngest, and the play starts on her name day. She is full of hope, but also worried about what life holds in store for her.
Various characters populate the Prozorovs' lives, including Chebutykin, a 60-year-old doctor and sometimes-drunk who is charming and playful, but whose mind is leaving him. Additionally, there is the Prozorov brother, Andrei, a would-be scholar who is now angling to work for the District Council. He is in love with Natasha, a local girl who the Prozorov sisters feel is beneath their brother. Additionally, there are Tusenbach, a verbose and affable baron who is in love with Irina, and Solyony, a disagreeable and eccentric soldier who is also in love with her.
On Irina's name day, Vershinin, a soldier who is prone to philosophizing, visits the house. He met the sisters once when they were much younger, and he is now burdened with a wife who often attempts suicide to win his attention. He and Masha strike up a relationship and begin an affair.
In the second act, Andrei has married Natasha who, while insecure about her position in the Prozorov household initially, has begun to take up a lot of space, moving her baby into Irina's room and ordering the longtime servants around ruthlessly. On this specific night, some carnival people are planning to come to the house, and the various characters in the Prozorov household begin to drink and have a little fun, but Natasha sends the carnival people away, worried about her baby.
After everyone has left, Solyony enters and tells Irina that he loves her and that he will stop every rival. She dismisses him, distressed by his attitude. Meanwhile, Natasha goes out for a ride with Protopopov, a local man with whom she is having an affair.
At the beginning of the third act, a great fire has burned down most of the town. The characters filter in and out of Olga and Irina's shared room, talking about the fire. Chebutykin is drunk for the first time in two years, and he laments the fact that he is forgetting his medical training and that a woman died in his care that week. He then breaks the sisters' mother's clock, which he shrugs off as not a big deal.
When everyone leaves, Masha confesses to her sisters that she is in love with Vershinin. Olga is upset about it, but Masha says she will never say another word about it. The act ends with Olga advising Irina to marry Tusenbach, even though she does not love him.
In the final act, the soldiers are about to leave the town. Olga has become the headmistress of the school, even though she didn't want to be. Irina is engaged to Tusenbach and they are planning to move and start a life of work. The other day, Solyony challenged Tusenbach to a duel, but no one will mention this to Irina. Tusenbach goes off to fight the duel, unsure if he will live or die.
When Tusenbach is gone, Vershinin and Masha bid farewell, kissing in front of everyone. When he finally leaves, Masha is inconsolable, and Kulygin is embarrassed but promises not to talk about it. Chebutykin enters and tells the sisters that Tusenbach has been killed in the duel. Irina vows to move anyway and start working. The sisters consider all the compromises and disappointments they have suffered.
