Expelled from school Emma Rouault resumes life at home with her father. Yearning for romance, she is soon swept off her feet by Dr Bovary but finds their marriage lacks passion.

Emma begins a double life of devoted wife and seductive mistress. Her plans for Charles to become wealthy go sour, so she turns to Rodolphe but he does not want a family.

Rodolphe has second thoughts and flees town, leaving a farewell note in a basket of fruit to the Bovary household. Traumatized, Emma enters a downward spiral from which she may never recover.