The article focuses on the transformation of the plot model from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s novel “Julie, or New Heloise”. This model was used by Karamzin as the basis of his works, which were created in 1799–1803. Three texts of this period: “A Knight of Our Times”, “My confession”, “The Sensitive and the Cold”, share a common content core, plot constant, or plot invariant. It is proved that the reasons why Karamzin was dealing with such a simple plot scheme as the Rousseauist love triangle were literary as well as autobiographical. Besides, the article analyzes the methods of incorporating life material – facts of Karamzin’s biography which are strikingly similar to Rousseau’s novels – into a literary text’s space. It also examines the specificity of Karamzin’s work with real and fictional prototypes.