France shortly before the First World War. The old bourgeois prejudices are still strong in provincial high society, snobbery and double morality still reign there. However, the spirit of change is already in the air, which will mercilessly destroy prejudices. Against this background, the dramatic fate of the family of the “old aristocracy” unfolds, the head of which, having squandered the entire family fortune on mistresses, went bankrupt and committed suicide, leaving his wife and children poor. Whoever breaks, without enduring poverty and shame? Who, gritting his teeth, will survive difficult times in order to turn into a completely new type of businessman - tenacious, cynical and ruthless? And who will find the strength to try to find a different, own path in life?