Rolande met de Bles plot
Widower Renier has returned from the First World War to his Horlebecq estate. The only distraction he knows from his monotonous existence is the correspondence with the Parisian Rolande, whom he met during the war. Pressured by his family, he is forced into a marriage with his sister-in-law Emily, which does not prevent Renier from continuing to meet Rolande. She allows himself to be persuaded to invest considerable sums in the Académie de Beauté in Paris. His reckless investments and the break-up of his engagement to Emily make the situation on Horlebecq untenable.