...Cards are everywhere: they are on the ceiling, on the walls, to say nothing of the people’s hands, and, what is the main point, in the people’s minds and souls. They are everyone’s destiny, promising either success or despair and craziness.

How to overcome the doom? Is there a way to become the master of your own life? Is it worth sacrificing your real love to an unreal passion that is beyond your reach? That’s passion for gambling which may enable you to become a superman. (Rolan Pety)

With the first sounds of music German enters. He wanders about the place, he is looking for something or someone. Those, who he is looking for, leave their gambling tables in the form of four suits of cards and start moving in his direction.

German watches the gambling. Suddenly a spectre appears from nowhere - it is an old woman, all in black. She bets on three cards, one by one. The place is getting flooded with banknotes. But the winnings remain untouched by this strange ghost gambler, who suddenly vanishes into thin air.

German is alone, there are some cards at his feet – those are the cards that won. But they are identically blank. They don’t bear any suit signs.

German runs away.

The game is in progress.

The hall with only one gambling table arranged in the middle. German enters the hall where the game has already started.

A brilliant dance of the gamblers. German keeps watching everything.

Change of scenery.

We immediately find ourselves in a ballroom. The gamblers have joined the dancing young people.
German seems to be indifferent to everything. But deep inside he is obsessed with one fixed idea - he wants to be lucky at cards. By gambling he hopes to make his fortune and multiply it to secure his future.

Everyone dances.

The Countess enters. She bears very strong resemblance to the spectre seen by German before (at the beginning of the ballet). She is known to possess one strange secret of cards. Everyone greets her.

A young girl, an orphan, accompanies her.

German tries to approach the Countess.

Suddenly the light fades, the music changes with the Sun meeting the Moon.

German and the Countess dance pas de deux – they move as if they were in a dream. The light comes up again, the dream has vanished.

All the people dance.

Then the place gets deserted – everybody is gone. The Countess leaves, too, following her young companion. German keeps them in sight until they are gone. It makes the girl convinced that the young stranger is infatuated with her. The girl returns on the pretext that she has left her handbag behind. They dance and she gives him the key to her bedroom.

German falters at the front door of the Countess’ house. He is going to open it with the key the girl gave him that night. But it’s not the girl he is to meet there. He heads for the Countess’ bedroom and hides there.

Here is the room of the Countess. He sees the Countess enter the room accompanied by her maids and the young companion. She takes off one piece of clothing after another: off she has her sables, silks, jewellery, her attire, corset and at last, her wig. With her wig off, she doesn’t seem to look so old. Then she disappears behind the folding screen to change to go to bed. She sends off the maids and companions and stays alone tete-a-tete with her large mirror, grey-haired, in her nightgown.

The moment German waited for so long has come. The Countess is alone. He reveals himself from his hiding place and stepping towards the centre of the room stands still. At seeing him the Countess gets stiff, as if made of stone. He approaches her, turns her to face him and straight-forwardly asks about the secret of three cards. She keeps silent, he insists. Then makes a weak attempt to embrace her, but doesn’t dare to go on. Though he could, he says, make himself her lover, if needed.

Then he loses patience, and taking out a pistol, threatens her: "I want to know your secret". But no answer – she falls dead. German, horrified, disappears.

The girl, surprised and worried by the noises, turns up and finds her lady - the Countess - dead on the floor.

German is at home. Sitting on his bed with the jacket off. He nervously bites his nails; he is beyond himself with despair. He fully realises that his lucky chance slipped away from him. All is in vain.

He holds the pistol that has become the reason for the Countess’ death, and he regrets that he can’t make use of it for himself - the pistol is not even loaded.

All of a sudden the Countess makes her appearance. She produces the three winning cards: the Three, the Seven and the Queen: of hearts, of diamonds, of clubs – any; but not the Queen of Spades. On hearing this German takes his jacket and rushes out of the room to try his fortune.

A large game with a huge number of gamblers goes. German enters, he makes a bet... The Three comes first and…wins, then the Seven follows and wins, too. Now the Queen… – he can’t believe his eyes - the Queen of Spades, the Countess herself!

All is over. He falls dead at the feet of the old Countess.