Renier, a widower, has returned to his farm Horlebecq after World War I. His only source of entertainment is his correspondence with Rolande, a Parisian he met during the war. Renier is enamored with Rolande and even visits her in Paris, despite his family's pressure to marry his sister-in-law Emily. She persuades him to invest enormous sums of money in the Parisian "Academie de Beauté." Horlebecq is riven by uncontrollable tensions as a result of his rash investments and the breakup of his engagement with Emily...