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The story takes place between 1838 and 1843.

Baron Hulot leads a libertine life that risks ruining his entire family. His wife, Adeline, is desperate because the Baron's escapades put their daughter Hortense's marriage in danger, to whom it will be difficult to offer a dowry. All this is taught to us by Célestin Crevel, the baron's debauchery companion, who informs the baroness of the situation, while clumsily trying to seduce her.

Hortense, who inherited her mother's dazzling beauty, is not disconcerted by this situation. She learns from Lisbeth, an old maid, a cousin of the family, called Cousin Bette, that she has taken a young Polish artist, Wenceslas Steinbock, under her protection.

She manages to meet the young artist and is immediately seduced. She introduced the young man to her parents, who also fell under the spell.

The young man had no fortune, but Hortense was convinced that his talent, supported by the official commands that the baron's support would allow, would protect them from need. The marriage is therefore decided.

But this union triggered the anger of Cousin Bette. She has been secretly jealous, since the beginning of her life, of her cousin Adeline. To get revenge, she joins forces with Valérie Marneffe, her attractive neighbour.

Cousin Bette entrusted the latter with the mission of seducing the libertine baron and ruining the Hulot family. The courtesan had a superb apartment furnished at the Baron's expense and offered herself to him on the very evening of his daughter Hortense's wedding.

We find the characters again in 1841. Three years have passed. The combined efforts of Cousine Bette and Valérie Marneffe have succeeded in putting the Hulot family in financial difficulty. Baron Hulot increasingly abandoned his wife and could not stop his mistress from spending her money. She also secretly became the mistress of Célestin Crevel, now Borough Mayor, and very proud to be the lover of this beautiful courtesan. The latter, thanks to the prodigality of her lovers and the advice of Cousine Bette, gradually built up a fortune.

During the summer of 1841, everything accelerated. Valérie Marneffe meets Baron Montès, one of her former lovers who returned from Brazil and reconnects with him. Insatiable, she also seduced Wenceslas Steinbock, Hortense's husband, and was proudly courted by 4 lovers: Baron Hulot, Mayor Célestin Crevel, Baron Montès and Hortense's husband.

Desperate, Hortense left her husband and went back to her mother's house.

Not content with having caused the fall of the Huliot house, Cousin Bette decided to marry Marshal Hulot, the baron's eldest brother. In this way, she hopes to achieve greater social success than her cousin Adeline, of whom she is still secretly jealous.

Alas, Marshal Hulot, devastated by the suffering caused to him by his brother's decline and ruin, died before the marriage. Baron Hulot, on the other hand, obtained unexpected help from one of his former mistresses and left his family.

Almost two years have passed again. The Hulot family seems to have regained its serenity. In the father's absence, Victorin, his son, now reigns over the family. He is surrounded by his mother Adeline, his sister Hortense, and cousin Bette. But the lull cannot last. A new crisis broke out with the announcement of the wedding of Célestin Crevel, who was also Victorin's stepfather, and Valérie Marneffe. Outraged, the family refused to attend Crevel's wedding with this adventurer.

An incredible machination will succeed in causing the deaths of Crevel and Valerie. The Hulot family can finally inherit the immense fortune left by this cursed couple.

The baroness, who has straightforward ideas, manages to find her husband's trace and convince him to return to live in her home, which has returned to prosperity.

Unable to tolerate Adeline's new happiness, cousin Bette died without having been able to confess or satisfy her hatred.

But the baron is not cured. He was once again seduced by a young kitchen employee, which led to his wife's death.

As soon as he was a widower, the baron was in a hurry to marry the young servant.