Uncle Vanya is a play in four acts set on a rural Russian estate. Vanya and his niece Sonya have long worked to manage the property and support her father, a retired professor whom they once admired. When the professor arrives with his young, beautiful second wife, the household is unsettled. Old resentments, unspoken loves and a sense of wasted years begin to surface, and the local doctor, Astrov, adds his own weary views on work and the destruction of forests. The play is a tender portrait of ordinary people facing unfulfilled hopes, and it is admired for its quiet humour and compassion.