Since Demetrius took the Russian throne by deceit, he has committed many atrocities: he exiled and executed many innocent people, devastated the country, turned Moscow into a dungeon for the boyars. But in 1606 its tyranny reaches its limit. He wants to convert the Russians to the lying Catholic faith and, moreover, to give all the people under the yoke of the Poles. In vain the breastplate of Tsar Parmen turns to Dimitri with exhortations: the tsar does not repent of anything. “I despise the Russian people from the throne / And I am forcibly extending tyrannical power,” he says to the breastplate. The only thing that makes him suffer is love for Ksenia, daughter of the boyar Shuisky. However, Demetrius is going to soon gain possession of his beloved, despite the fact that he is already married; spouse can be poisoned. Hearing this terrible confession, Parmen decides to protect the king’s wife.
Then the chief of the guard comes with a message that the people are worried and that some even dare to say directly: the current sovereign is not the tsar’s son, but a runaway monk Otrepyev, an impostor. “The rebellion is from Shuisky,” Demetrius guesses, and demands that Shuisky and Xenia be brought to him.
Shuisky assures the king that both the people and he, Shuisky, love Demetrius and obey his will. Then, in evidence of obedience, the impostor orders Xenia to give for himself. But the girl proudly refuses him: even the threat of death cannot make her forget her fiancé George. Shuisky promises the king to change his daughter’s thoughts.
As soon as Ksenia is left alone with her father, he reveals to her that he intends to soon overthrow the tyrant from the throne; but before time you need to be silent and lurk. Shuisky asks his daughter to pretend to be submissive to Demetrius. Ksenia and then George agree to deception in the name of the good of the fatherland.
However, when Dimitri, believing their lies, begins to scoff at his rival (“Disappear, a creature petty to the tsar for sacrifice!”), George is indignant and, although Ksenia is trying to keep him, calls the impostor a killer and a tyrant in the face. When Dimitri orders to take George to prison, Xenia also ceases to restrain herself. The angry tsar promises death for both of them, but in time Shuisky arriving in time softens him and assures that Ksenia will no longer resist. He even takes a ring from Dimitry to give his daughter a pledge of monarch's love. Inspiring the tsar to the tsar that he is the true support of the throne, Shuisky also undertakes to calm the popular unrest caused by imprisonment of George. The impostor does not mind, but at the same time gives the order to multiply his guard.
Dimitri himself understands that by his bloodthirstiness he restores his subjects against himself and draws near the end of his reign, but he cannot do anything with himself.
Thanks to the intervention of Parmen, Demetrius frees George. In a conversation with Shuisky, Parmen says: “Let Otrepyev be it, but also in the midst of deceit, / Kohl he is a worthy king, worthy of imperial dignity. / But does high dignity benefit us? / Let Dimitri be the monarch of Rossk’s son, / Yes, if we don’t see the quality in him, / So we deserve to hate the monarch’s blood adequately, / Without finding love for our father’s father ... ”and adds that he would remain faithful to the tsar if he was the true father of the people. However, Shuisky is not confident in the feelings of Dimitriev's breastplate and therefore does not reveal his thoughts to him.
Ksenia and George promise from now on Shuisky to endure all the curses of the impostor and not to give himself away. Lovers again and again swear that they will belong only to each other. “And if I will not be paired with you, / With you I will be laid in the grave,” says Ksenia. And the young man is not inferior to her in the nobility, tenderness and exaltation of feelings.
This time their deception is crowned with success. Although their faces turn pale and tears appear in their eyes, both firmly say to Demetrius that they are striving to overcome love. The Tsar is joyful to look at their suffering, he likes that his subjects are in perfect power: "... obeying me, seek my love ... / But if not so, beware and tremble!" - he teaches Xenia.
Suddenly, the chief of the guard brings the news that both the nobility and the people are getting hardened and, apparently, this night will be the night of treason. Demetrius immediately calls for Parmen. Ksenia is trying to intercede for the instigators of rebellion - her father and lover, but in vain. And in vain the breastplate shows the king the path to salvation - repentance and mercy. The character of Demetrius resists virtue; he has in his mind only new atrocities. Parmen is ordered to execute the boyars.
When Shuisky and George are announced that they have been sentenced to death, both are ready to proudly and without shyness accept death; Shuisky only asks that he be allowed to say goodbye to his daughter. The impostor agrees, because he knows that he will thereby multiply their torment. Ksenia is being led. Father and groom touchingly say goodbye to her. The girl, depriving everything that made her happiness, in desperation, asks to hit her with a sword ... But Parmen already wants to take the boyars to prison. Ksenia rushes to Parmen, asking if he really "primed his pitiful disposition for atrocities?" He does not answer the pleas of the unfortunate, but sends prayers to heaven to fulfill his dream of overthrowing the tyrant.
At night, Dimitri wakes the bell ringing, and the impostor realizes that a riot has begun. Survived by horror, he feels that both people and heaven have fought against him, that he has nowhere to be saved. Dimitri then demands that the few surviving guards defeat the crowd of people that surrounded the royal house, then conjures not to leave him, then thinks of flight ... But even now, he is not afraid of approaching death, but that he will die without taking revenge on his enemies . He draws his fury upon Ksenia: “The mistress and daughter of my traitors! / When they were saved, so you die for them! ”
Warriors, led by George and Shuisky, burst into the royal chambers just at the moment when the impostor brings a dagger over Xenia. Both lover and father would be glad to die in her place. And Dimitri agrees to give a girl life only on one condition - if he is returned to power and the crown. Shuisky is forced to say: "For the city, fatherly eat, princess, death is fierce!" George rushes at the villain, already knowing that he will not have time ... Dimitri rushes to stab Xenia ... But at that moment Parmen with a drawn sword tears the girl out of the hands of the impostor. With the last curse on his lips, Dimitri pierces his own chest with a dagger and dies.