A novel about Olivier Bertin, a successful Parisian painter, who for years has loved Anne, the Countess de Guilleroy, and been her lover. As he grows older, he begins to fear age and loss, and his feelings are complicated when her daughter, who strongly resembles her mother in youth, comes into his life. Maupassant writes with restraint about passion, ageing and jealousy. It is among his most melancholy and psychologically searching books.