Two brothers, Pierre and Jean, are rivals for the love of a woman and Pierre uses all kinds of resources to betray his brother, who seems to be always successful. This it is the base of Maupassants great novel, considered by many critics to be the greatest of the prolific author, in which an accurate portrait of jealousies and tenderness is done. But this bitter work never decreases its attention for an instant and the description made by Oscar Wilde: it reveals the black slip that covers the rags of life, is a definition of great literature.