Michel Ferréol reluctantly meets up with an old school friend, Antoine Fiesco. Michel didn’t like Antoine much when they were at school and tries to get away by making an excuse. He changes his mind when Antoine introduces him to his wife, a beautiful brunette named Christine.

An Italian painter, Antonio Berti, pays a visit to Reims to his friend Robert Maurisson, a banker with political views on the town hall, who hides, under an affable air and an irreproachable dignity, a libertine and cynical temperament. Charged by the notable with the restoration of paintings exhibited in the cathedral, the artist calls on Cathy, a young girl from the choir, to serve as his model. The young girl will be found dead a few hours after their interview, near one of Robert's properties.