As Arkady Kirsanov returns home after graduation, his father waits patiently for him-excited to see his much-loved son once again. But in returning home to a world that has remained static, Arkady and his friend Bazarov, a self-defined nihilist, find themselves wholly changed, and must now redefine old relationships-both their friendship with one another and their relationships with their fathers-from new perspectives. Ivan Turgenev's brilliant novel explores generational differences and their tragic consequences. The classic saga Fathers and Sons reveals the inescapable influence that fathers and sons have on each other's lives, and provides a realistic portrayal of the struggles of families and their ideologies in the face of social upheaval. Fathers and Sons is often regarded as the first modern novel in Russian literature, and has been adapted for the stage as Nothing Sacred, which was later made into a movie.