Stephen Hollis is a young college student, living with his pious parents in the well-to-do Westmount suburb of Montreal. He is an attractive young man, intelligent, popular to a degree, but Stephen has a problem. His is also an insufferable, self-justifying snob who uses his intellect as a barrier against the world. Then he meets Fabien. Fabien is an impeccable bon vivant who lives in a large house with two young men, Duncan and Bill, where he entertains guests while dispensing his bon mots.
Stephen is immediately drawn to Fabien, but finds himself in a jealous triangle with Duncan, whom he sees as a rival for Fabien’s affections. Duncan had been in the war, and now seems to be living off Fabien. He drinks a lot, takes a lot of showers, and is writing a novel. Stephen hates him.
Bill also fought in the war, and feels protective toward Duncan, watching Stephen’s intrusion in their household with mounting resentment. In this enclosed world, where everything revolves around the scintillating Fabien, delusions will be shattered—and tragedy becomes inevitable.
This blast against a prosperous, virtuous middle-class society introduces to the literary scene a new writer who combines passion and virtuosity, fury and wit, in a combustible mixture.