"The Knockout" is the seventh volume of the family saga about the Rougon-Macquart. The young laundress Gervaise Macquart is abandoned by her lover Auguste Lantier, who takes all her money with him, leaving behind their two sons, Claude and Etienne. The now impoverished Gervaise then marries the lively zinc worker Coupeau. At first, everything seems to be going well, and Gervaise is even able to open her own laundry. But then things take a turn...