The butterfly of the title, Olga Ivanovna Dymova, is a beautiful and vivacious 20-year-old woman who dabbles in the arts, surrounding herself with artists who come and go in her Moscow home… and in her heart. As thoughtless as she is attractive, she flutters through life like a butterfly on the wing, bewitching and enthralling every handsome and talented young man she meets – and then flying on to her next interest. Olga’s adoring husband, the serious and kind doctor Osip Dymov who quietly turns a blind eye to her infidelities, is in many ways her exact opposite. Life is sweet for Olga but when she comes up against the wild, unpredictable and bohemian artist Peter Ryabovsky… the Butterfly’s summer days begin to wane!