Julien, the son of a minister has just married Birgitt, a Swede she met during her holidays on the French Riviera. She was recovering, having come to rest with Julien's father, a friend of her family. During the wedding cocktail, Julien remembers these holidays.
A young couple discover an ancient book in the attic and start reading the story of the Malemort family: a sombre household set in the nineteenth century in rural France. The old man Deroze plays his violin and tries to seduce the maid. His elder daughter Maxime "qui tue les mouches et deguste en...
Seeking isolation in his mansion, on a Breton island, misogynist writer Pierre Bangor has the unpleasant surprise of finding four cover-girls installed in their exuberance and artifice.