At the center of Guy de Maupassant's 1889 novel, which bears similarities to Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray," is the successful society painter Bertin. He has been living happily for twelve years with his married noble lover Any de Guilleroy. When her daughter Annette, who was raised by her grandmother, suddenly appears, Bertin becomes acutely aware of his own aging: the young girl strikingly resembles a portrait he once painted of his lover. Overwhelmed by passion for Annette and plunged into melancholy over his lost youth, Bertin finds himself in a hopeless psychological situation.