The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Bette Fischer, a 42-year-old woman whose bitterness at remaining unmarrieddespite several proposals by men she deemed unworthydrives her to ruin the reputations and lives of her extended family. After rescuing the young sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock from suicide, Bette develops a complex affection for the man. When he falls in love with Hortense, the daughter of Bettes cousin Adeline, she hatches a plan to gain revenge for this perceived personal slight. She recruits the young and beautiful Valrie Marneffean unhappily married womanto seduce Adelines husband, Baron Hector Hulot, whose uncontrolled desires and extensive vanity both test his familys loyalty and stretch their finances to the furthest possible limit.