The Caucasian Chalk Circle is introduced by a Prologue, making the main story almost a play within a play. In the Prologue we see a meeting of members of two collective farms in the Soviet state of Georgia towards the end of the Second World War. The meeting is to sort out a disagreement: earlier a stretch of land had been abandoned as the Germans advanced. The land had belonged to a group that bred goats. Now it is claimed by a group which specialises in fruit and vines. They have an irrigation plan, and claim that they can make the land more productive. Because of this, the delegate from the government grants the land to the fruit growers. A folk singer is then asked to arrange for the performance of a story which will illustrate the rightness of the decision. The story proposed is an adaptation of the old Chinese tale of the Chalk Circle, but transplanted into their own Caucasian region. The story takes place a long time ago in the Caucasian district of Georgia. It tells of a revolution in which the Grand Duke of Grusinia is overthrown one Easter Sunday. His Governor is murdered by command of one of the rebels, Prince Kazbeki. The first half of the play shows how a kitchen maid from the Governor’s palace, Grusha Vashnadze, finds the Governor’s young son who has been left behind by his mother in her panicstricken flight. Reluctantly at first, Grusha looks after the child, pretending that he is her own son to protect him from the revolutionary troops who are searching for the Governor’s heir. Grusha has no one to turn to for support; her fiancé, Simon,is out of touch at the wars. She is grudgingly given protection by her brother and his wife, but is forced to marry for the sake of shelter and a name for the child. The fighting ends. Simon now returns, only to find Grusha married. The Governor’s wife is able to reveal herself again and starts a search for her abandoned child. The boy is taken away from the protesting Grusha. The second part (Scene 4) takes us back to the samepoint of time as the first; the Easter Sunday of the Great Revolt. We meet a disreputable village scribe, Azdak, who, without knowing it, gives shelter to the terrified Grand Duke. When he realises what he has done, he gives himself up to the rioting soldiers. Impressed by his arguing they make him judge! We then see a sample of the rough-and-ready justice that he hands out up and down the country. When the revolt is squashed, he is dragged from the judge’s chair, but the grateful Grand Duke, remembering Azdak’s protection on the day of the revolt, reappoints him. Azdak’s final judgment is in the case brought by the Governor’s wife against Grusha for the return of the child. This is the last scene of the play; the two halves of the story come together when Azdak has to decide which of the two women is to have the child.