When the nearby town turns out to put out a fire engulfing the estate of Valpinson, they find the owner, Count Claudieuse, gravely injured by the hands of a murderer. All evidence, including the testimony of a village simpleton, points to M de Boiscoran, a genial young landowner. Despite the pleas of his fiancée, he refuses to give an alibi, and may yet die. The book turns upon his fiancee's quest to discover the truth, and the revelation of just how little a 'hero of romance' Boiscoran really proves himself to be.