The Marquis de la Seiglière returns to France once the Revolution is over. His possessions, which had been sold as material properties, had been purchased by Stamply, a farmer. The latter restores them to the Marquis, who decides to allocate old Stamply with the use of a corner of his manor. Hélène de la Seiglière, the Marquis's daughter, takes care of the old man. But this one, devastated by death of his son, buried under the ice of the Berezina, dies. Some time later, three persons come to live in the manor: M. de Paubert, his son Raoul, and Destournelles, a crafty, ruthlessly ambitious lawyer. De Paubert hopes to marry his son to Hélène de la Seiglière and might well achieve his aim but for the unexpected return of Bernard Stamply, who has escaped death miraculously. He gets to know Helène and the two young people fall in love with each other.
