At a wake one night in 1945, a group of aged women recall the life of one of their number. Sixty years before, Th├®r├¿se was barely 20 years old when she eloped with her boyfriend, Firmin, a blacksmith, to Ch├ótillon, a town in Provence. Here, she makes the acquaintance of the wealthy Madame Numance, who is known for her good deeds. Realising that Th├®r├¿se is pregnant and unemployed, Madame Numance insists that she moves into a house on her estate. Whilst Firmin resents the arrangement, Th├®r├¿se soon finds that she can exploit the situation, using her benefactor’s naivety and generosity for her own gain..
