Lyudmila expects her lover from a military campaign. Standing at a crossroads, the girl watches as the surviving warriors pass by her, but there is no lover among them. Lyudmila decides that her beloved has died. Going home, she thinks about him and about her feelings for him; it seems to her that she cannot live without him.

Separate, my grave;
Coffin, open; live fully;
Do not love the heart twice.

At home, a frightened mother tries to find out what her daughter is so grieving about. Lyudmila replies that she does not want to live anymore, and God forgot about her. Mother replies that one must be humble, accept and steadfastly experience what God sends, then the soul will certainly go to heaven. But the girl believes that with her beloved, paradise is everywhere, and without it, hell is everywhere.

Together with the sweetheart, everywhere is paradise;
With a lovely rose - paradise
Hopeless cloister.

At night, the groom appears before Lyudmila and takes her to her. They make their way to his cold and cramped house. They ride the whole night and in the morning they arrive at the gates behind which there are crosses and graves. The horse and the rider fall into a fresh grave. Lyudmila sees her groom dead - blue and scary, he calls her to her. Frightened, the petrified Lyudmila falls dead into the grave of her lover.The dead come out of the graves in a crowd, their terrible choir howls:

The mortal grumble is reckless;
The supreme king is just;
Yours heard the groan of the creator;
Your hour has beaten, the end has come.