The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories is a collection of seven short stories. The title story, Chekhov’s most famous, describes an affair between two unhappily married people who meet by chance at the seaside resort of Yalta while vacationing alone. The affair becomes a love that endures after each returns home and leads to clandestine meetings and the inevitable heartbreak that comes from distance, lengthy absences and the impossibility of leaving their established lives.  In “An Upheaval” a young governess suffers the indignity of having her room searched in her absence by the lady of the house. “A Doctor’s Visit” centers on an inner connection that develops between a doctor and the young heiress he has been called to examine that goes unexpressed.  “Ionitch” also charts the evolution of a missed romantic opportunity between a young doctor with a promising future and a coquettish young woman from an artistic family.  “The Head of the Family” is a wealthy, pompous ass who drinks and gambles and bullies anyone without the good sense to stay as far away as possible, most notably his young son. “Volodya” displays the emotional distress of a conflicted, frustrated teenage being raised in awkward surroundings by a vain single mother. “The Husband” portrays a mean-spirited, ill-humored tax collector who meanly spirits his wife away from a dance with a visiting regiment for having too much fun.  As always, Chekhov portrays real life in all its wonder and horrors, its plainness and mystery, with the telling details and revealing remarks, without judging, for all to see.