A series of dramas based on the works of Guy de Maupassant which aired in 1963 from Granada Television
Jacques, a middle-aged, pompous aristocrat is alone in his apartment on New Years Eve. He gets a surprise visit form Irene, a married woman who he adores. She has come to tell him that she quarreled violently with her husband. She also proposes that she and Jacques run away together. Jacques retains his pride and explains that they will suffer complete social ostracism should they take her proposed step.
For a long time Jacques Bourdillere had sworn that he would never marry, but he suddenly changed his mind. It happened suddenly, one summer, at the seashore.
"That girl Yvette, she is a mystery. Is she a charming youngster or a wretched jade?" Yvette belongs through her high-class prostitute mother, her birth, her education, her inheritance, her manners, and her customs, to the vortex of the most rapid life of 19th-century Paris.
Prussian soldiers occupy a small French village. The Prussian colonel makes his headquarters in the home of an old peasant, Milon. The colonel is interrogating the entire village seeking a solution to the assassination of 14 Prussian soldiers.
Brument, a poor pig breeder, and Cornu, an innkeeper, are charged by Brument’s wife with attempted murder. Mme. Brument tells how the two would-be assassins forced her to fill a barrel with water, dumper her in, and tried to hold her under until see drowned. Luckily, she explains, she escaped. Cornu and Brument confess that they were drunk and the maudlin Brument began crying about his financial distress. Brument proposes to sell his wife to Cornu. They agree and decide that Brument will be paid for his wares per cubic liter. Therefore, Mme. Brument was placed in the barrel to determine how much water she would displace and so determine her worth.
Vaudrec, a good friend of Serbois and his wife Claire, dies. Serbois is hopeful that Vaudrec may have left them something in his will. Serbois and his wife go to see Lamaneur, Vaudrec’s lawyer. When Lamaneur reads the will Serbois is upset because all of Vaudrec’s possessions were left to Claire. Serbois is convinced that Claire has been the mistress of the dead man. When confronted by Serbois and his suspicions, Claire flatly denies them. Serbois is now torn between the hidden implications of the legacy and its value: one and a half million francs. Serbois’ avaricious desires lead him to discard his suspicions. He accepts the inheritance. Claire is shaken by her husband’s actions and bursts into a rain of tears.
Rose Leveque, a farm girl, is a servant on Vallin’s farm. Rose is deeply in love with Jacques, a farm laborer. Jacques, in order to seduce Rose, promises to marry her. Rose becomes pregnant and Jacques repeats his promise of marriage, but instead of fulfilling his promise, he runs away. Rose decides to take her problem to the village Priest. But before she can tell the Priest her story she receives notice that her mother is very ill. Rose gets permission from Vallin to leave and goes to tend to her mother, and takes her secret with her.
A young man named Lesable who marries Cora, the daughter of a wealthy man, in order to inherit her aunt's fortune. However, the inheritance comes with a condition: they must have a child within three years.
Baron d’Etraille sees his wife kissing Marquis de Cervigne at a ball. Suspecting the worst, he informs his wife that they must separate. He arranges her alimony and tells her that she may do as she wishes as long as she keeps up appearances in the public eye. After six years of traveling the Baron returns to Paris. He is ill and is ordered to Nice to rest. En route, on a night train, he finds a veiled woman in his sleeping compartment.
Labarbe, Bardon and Sergeant-Major Varajou: each of these three bachelors has a remarkable experience, though perhaps Varajou's is the most remarkable of all.
Hautot, a rich widower and farmer, is critically wounded in a hunting accident. On his deathbed he tells his son of his mistress in the local town, of his periodic visits to her on Thursdays. He requests that she be cared for. The following Thursday, Caesar makes the visit instead of his father.
Madame Poincot, wife of a wealthy ship owner, gives a party. She is forty, quite beautiful, virtuous and a wonderful wife and mother. At her party she falls hopelessly in love with one of the guests, Jean Renoldi, a young officer whose regiment is stationed at Le Havre.
