A delightful romantic fable about an idealistic scoolteacher, Leon Tolchinsky... the townspeople of a remote Ukrainian village who are all fools because of the curse put on the town two hundred years ago... and Sophia, the enchanting young pupil whom Leon vainly sets out to educate in hopes of lifting the spell but winds up falling in love with instead. When Leon and Sophia marry, the curse is miraculously lifted (since it only remained in force while people believed in its power) and the townspeople are free to become as intelligent - or as foolish - as they would have been otherwise.