Kovrin arrives at Pesotsky's estate, where he spent his childhood, to find the orchard filled with smoke and threatened by frost. When dawn arrives, the orchard is saved and, in the following weeks, Kovrin finds joy away from the demands of city and university life, begins to see Pesotsky's daughter Tanya in a new light, and becomes aware that Pesotsky is troubled about the survival of his magnificent gardens. He remains tormented by a subtle, original idea. An emissary from the unknown, the legendary Black Monk, appears to Kovrin, bringing opportunies and risks from invisible realms into the concrete world. While love makes certain claims in uncertain ways, Kovrin, Pesotsky and Tanya face choices that have consequences beyond the desired and foreseen.
The Black Monk premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre in May 2003 under the direction of Daniel Fish.