The Cherry Orchard is the story of a mortgage, with the grounds and beautiful trees of the proud landowners going for sale at a public auction to pay off their debts to the boorish son of a peasant who has risen in the world. Mme Ranyevskaya's family departs to take up their lives anew, leaving the old and forgotten Firs to die alone as the woodsmen's axes thud ironically against the cherished trees.