Cornelie De Retz Van Loo, a twenty-three-year-old divorcee from an upper-class Hague milieu, tries with mixed feelings to begin a new life in Italy. After some time in Rome, she discovers that Italy itself can never bring her the consolation she seeks, and writes a pamphlet on "The Social Position of the Divorced Woman". She meets the Dutch painter Duco van der Staal, and they move in together, flouting convention. Almost their only acquaintances are an amorous Italian prince and the American heiress he has married for her money. Duco and Cornelie are happy but poor, and their financial position goes from bad to worse. In desperation, Cornelie takes a position as a companion to an elderly American lady in Nice, where she encounters her ex-husband, and despite initial resistance she finally succumbs to his continuing power over her...