We are in Le Havre. A merchant sets off to rebuild his fortune in the South Seas, leaving behind the most exquisite girl, Modeste Mignon. Modeste maintains a correspondence with a famous writer, Canalis, elegiac poet and bigoted careerist, through whom Balzac was not shy to reveal a few traits to Lamartine and Vigny. But it is Canalis' secretary, Ernest de la Brière, who answers the letters and falls madly in love with Modeste. The deception is discovered when the father of the young girl returns from India, fortune made and more than done. Enticed by the dowry, Canalis rushes to Le Havre, taking Ernest with him. That makes two suitors and there will even be a third: a duke, because Balzac always has a duke in reserve up his pants. Which of the three will win?
