The adventurer Chichikov buys up "dead souls" - deceased serfs, counted as living at the last revision. The landlords are surprised by the requests of an enterprising acquaintance, but they are glad to get rid of the burden - after all, they pay taxes for the peasants counted in the audit tales as for the living. In the future, Pavel Ivanovich plans to commit a number of frauds with the merchants and fabulously enrich himself. But his Napoleonic plans were not destined to come true... Actors: Larisa Udovichenko, Inna Churikova, Valery Zolotukhin, Tamara Nosova, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Yuri Bogatyrev, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Irina Malysheva, Alexander Kalyagin, Maria Vinogradova, Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Alexander Trofimov, Elizaveta Nikishchikhina, Vitaly Shapovalov