Prince Yuri Lubovedsky is a man interested in contacting the spirit world after his wife's death in childbirth. He meets Gurdjieff in Egypt while Gurdjieff works for Professor Skridlov as a guide. Lubovedsky asks Gurdjieff to escort a woman named Vitvitskaia from Constantinople to Russia, which he does. Afterwards, Gurdjieff receives word from Lubovedsky to come visit him in a monastery located in the middle of Asia. Gurdjieff traverses the Himalayas and finds the monastery. He stays there for three years until Lubovedsky dies.