Martin, an ex-Parisian well-heeled hipster passionate about Gustave Flaubert who settled into a Norman village as a baker, sees an English couple moving into a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals Gemma and Charles Bovery, but their behavior also seems to be inspired by Flaubert's heroes.

A strange epidemic had invaded the country of young Earl Prospero. With some well-chosen courtiers, he has entrenched himself in his castle in order to escape this evil. A few months later, ignoring the disease, he decides to organize a large masked ball, excusing all excess. Death, however, is indifferent to all these tricks. Based upon Edgar Allan Poe's novel.