Hélène Grandjean, an attractive young widow, lives a secluded life in Paris with her only child, Jeanne. Jeanne is a delicate and nervous girl who jealously guards her mother`s affections. When Jeanne falls ill, she is attended by Dr Deberle, whose growing admiration for Hélène gradually turns into mutual passion. Deberle`s wife Juliette, meanwhile, flirts with a shallow admirer, and Hélène, intent on preventing her adultery, precipitates a crisis whose consequences are far-reaching. Jeanne realizes she has a rival for Hélène`s devotion in the doctor, and begins to exercise a tyrannous hold over her mother.

The eighth novel in Zola`s celebrated Rougon-Macquart series, A Love Story is an intense psychological and nuanced portrayal of love`s different guises. Zola`s study extends most notably to the city of Paris itself, whose shifting moods reflect Hélène`s emotional turmoil in passages of extraordinary lyrical description.