A harrowing tale about one man's attempt to escape the implications of a single dire act of murder. Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov - known as Rodya - is a handsome young student who, in an attempt to save his sister Dounia from marrying just to provide for him, kills a slovenly sixty-year old pawnbroker with a porter's axe. During the killing her sister Lizaveta enters and he murders her too, burying the spoils. The story follows Rodya as he tries to elude detection at a police summons (he faints) and while another man, Nikolay the painter, is accused. Various other characters come into the equation such as Rodya's student friend Razumihin who fears his mental collapse and Zametov the police clerk who is suspicious of the fainting incident. Episodes that follow include Rodya's return to the department of investigation under Porfiry Petrovitch who tries to trap him psychologically and later lectures him pertinently on the criminal mind. We fear for Rodya and his untenable situation especially after his family receives something of a small fortune from Svidrigailov. Into this melee of strange circumstances comes Sonia - a pale girl from the streets - to whom Rodya confesses his crime. It is then a question of whether he should give himself up and if Dounia will forgive his act of foolishness. The path of Rodya's life leads through these adventures to an acceptance of religion over individualism.

Original Russian title: Prestuplenie i nakazanie.