Pyotr’s mission is to forge a revolutionary cell, binding his followers with a chain of shared crimes. To unite them, he orchestrates a plot to murder a former member, Ivan Shatov, who is a former radical now turned fervent Russian nationalist. The cold-blooded killing of Shatov is the novel's central, harrowing act of violence, after which the group begins to unravel in a spiral of betrayal, suicide, and state repression, concluding with the tragic end of its enigmatic protagonist.