The play takes place in Brussels, where Suzanne Beulemans, daughter of a wealthy brewer, is promised in marriage to Séraphin Meulemeester, son of a rival brewer. Both the young man and his father appear to be particularly motivated by the young bride's dowry. But Séraphin has a rival in the form of Albert Delpierre, a young Parisian intern at the Beulemans brewery, who is secretly in love with the young woman. Albert receives a confession from Séraphin, who tells him that he is having an affair with a worker with whom he has had a child. He promises Séraphin not to reveal anything to Suzanne, but she is informed by Isabelle, the house servant.

An elderly man in love claims he will marry his ward tomorrow. A more cunning young lover warns her and, on the very same day, makes her his wife, right under the guardian's nose and in his own house...

Hélène Noris, a young Belgian woman from a bourgeois family, is haunted by a past affair with Tamara — now married to her father. Torn between desire and resentment toward Tamara’s conformist life, Hélène feels alienated in the provincial world she inhabits. To boost his social image, her stepfather René invites Parisian director Jean Gerfaud to stage an avant-garde version of Tartuffe. Tamara flirts with him, but Hélène seduces him first. A passionate, destructive affair begins, entangling love, jealousy, and ambition. When the play’s scandalous premiere sparks outrage, Jean marries Hélène, provoking Tamara’s fury. Yet Hélène, restless and defiant, betrays him with a soldier. In rage and humiliation, Jean confronts her in the “red room,” the space that once embodied their love and now their ruin.