The Kreutzer Sonata is based on a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage.
The death of her father brought Sylvia Fairfax face to face with conditions which she was unequipped to handle, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to fill the position of governess in the Windermere home, caused her to go to New York.
A convivial evening at Hoag's Tavern is interrupted by a young companion, William Fentise, declaring to the assembled company that he is very much in love with Sylvia, known as "Cherry," the beautiful daughter of Mr.