Accused of a murder she did not commit, young prostitute Katusha Maslova is put on trial. One of the jurors happens to be handsome Prince Dmitri Nekhludov, who seduced Katusha years before. Sympathetic towards her cause, Dmitri and his fellow jurors find Katusha not guilty. But, due to a legal technicality, she is sentenced to hard labor anyway. Now, Dmitri must follow his conscience and try to rescue Katusha, if he can, from her unhappy fate.