Julien, a modest postal worker, admires and hopelessly loves Thérèse, the lovely daughter of the local squire. But, quite unexpectedly, on the very night of her engagement with Count of Vétheuil, Thérèse asks Julien for help. In fact, she has just killed Pierre, her lover and wants his body disposed of. Julien performs the sinister task and is entitled to a night of love with Thérèse. Then he disappears. When Thérèse, ashamed, wants to confess, nobody believes her. Julien, who had come to denounce her, cannot speak when he finds himself facing the girl who had bewitched him and still does, and is arrested.