The novel portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. The narrator, Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov, has been sentenced to deportation and ten year's hard labour for the murder of his wife. Life in prison is particularly hard for Aleksandr Petrovich, since he is a nobleman and suffers the malice of the other prisoners, nearly all of whom belong to the peasantry. Gradually Goryanchikov overcomes his revulsion at his situation and his fellow convicts, undergoing a spiritual re-awakening that culminates with his release from the camp.

Dostoevsky himself spent four years in exile in a Siberian prison camp following his conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky circle. This experience allows him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of life and characters of the convicts.