- A month after the Nabokov family has settled in Yalta, a town in Crimea, Vladimir is angry at being held apart from Tamara, and his home.
- "Thenceforth for several years, until the writing of a novel relieved me of that fertile emotion, the loss of my country was equated for me with the loss of my love." (11.4.1)
- The family has very few possessions and even less money.
- The local Soviet government assassinates many "risky" citizens, but Vladimir's father stays safe by posing as a doctor.
- They remain lucky, and a former chauffeur brings the family much-needed money from family friends, and the mail, which includes a letter from Tamara.
- In the spring of 1918, the Germans begin to occupy Soviet Russia, and then disappear, leaving a bit of space for Vladimir's father's liberals in Yalta, where he takes up a local governmental post.
- Walking in the Crimean countryside, Vladimir comes upon a strange-looking soldier, whose horse is walking away from him.
- The soldier looks familiar, and Vladimir realizes it is the actor Mozzhuhin, which he and Tamara had watched on the silver screen in St. Petersburg. The actor is rehearsing a film.
- After realizing this, Vladimir goes on, his butterfly net in tow.
- That summer, Sergey and Vladimir spend time on the beach estate of family friends, especial with "coeval" (someone who is the same age) Lidia T.
- With Lidia T., they play a game where they pretend to be stodgy memoirists recalling a time when they met a famous writer. (Nabokov admits this was a totally silly and esoteric thing to do.)
- Each time mail manages to get to Yalta, there is a letter from Tamara, who keeps on sending letters from where she lives, now in the Ukraine, as if there is no war to stop the postal carriers.