Uncle Vanya I opens on a muggy autumn afternoon in the garden of Professor Serebryakov's estate. Marina, an old nanny, sits by a samovar as Astrov, the country doctor, reminisces about the time when he first came to the region, a time when Vera Petrovna-Serebryakov's first wife and mother to his daughter Sonya-was still alive. Serebryakov has recently returned with his beautiful young wife, Yelena, to live on the estate; Astrov has come to treat the Professor's case of gout.
Astrov delivers an extended speech about how life has become "boring, stupid, sordid" and how his feelings are "dead to the world"; he needs nothing, wants nothing, and loves no one. Voynitsky (or Uncle Vanya), Serebryakov's brother-in-law by his first marriage and caretaker of the estate, then enters, yawning. He complains that the professor and his wife have thrown the estate out of kilter: everyone has succumbed to lethargy.