A middle-class social climber named Chichikov embarks upon a journey to collect 'dead souls.' These 'dead souls' are in fact serfs who have died since the last census was taken-though dead, they have not yet been removed from official records, and are therefore subject to taxation. In an entertaining story about Chichikov's bizarre plan to take out a loan against all the 'dead souls' he acquires, Gogol presents his shady protagonist against a grimly humorous backdrop of supporting characters.