From the monotonous and dreary life of Parisian society, the radical aesthete Jean Floressas des Esseintes, who hails from an old noble lineage, has retreated to a country house outside of Paris. There, des Esseintes, obsessed with the superiority of the human spirit over nature, dedicates himself to the creation of a bizarre artistic world committed solely to beauty. However, this withdrawal from the natural sources of life does not come without psychological consequences, which increasingly place des Esseintes in a precarious situation.