Ivan Ilyich, a high court judge, becomes seriously ill and faces a long and gruelling battle with death. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is more than a story about death, however. It leads the reader through a pensive, metaphysical exploration of the reason for death and what it means to truly live. German philosopher Martin Heidegger refers to the novella as an illustration of Being towards death.

The story follows unconventional love and marriage of a young girl, Masha aged 17, and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych, an old family friend. The story is narrated by Masha. After a courtship that has the trappings of a mere family friendship, Masha's love grows and expands until she can no longer contain it. She reveals it to Sergey Mikhaylych and discovers that he also is deeply in love.

In Sevastopol (or Sebastopol) Sketches Tolstoy examines the senselessness and vanity of war, the many aspects of the psychology of war, heroism, and the misleading presence of humanism in truces. The name originates from Sevastopol, a city in Crimea. Many of the episodes in Tolstoy's War and Peace are linked to the events described in these sketches.