Alphonse Courrier possesses all the might reasonably make a man content: a prosperous ironmonger's business and a position of respect in his Auvergne village, a dutiful, coolly beautiful wife who runs an irreproachable household, two healthy sons, and a hidden mistress - "the ugliest girl in the village but probably the happiest".

Prying eyes and wagging tongues, however, are the life force in a small community, and though Courrier thinks he can play the village gossips with the same skill he brings to the card table, life has a way of dealing the hand you least expect ...