Pierre and Jean are the sons of G r me Roland, a jeweller who has retired to Le Havre, and his wife Louise.
Pierre works as a doctor, and Jean is a lawyer.
It recounts the story of a middle-class French family whose lives are changed when L on Mar chal, a deceased family friend, leaves his inheritance to Jean.
This provokes Pierre to doubt the fidelity of his mother and the legitimacy of his brother.
