While spending the summer in the resort of Grand Isle with her husband and children, Edna Pontellier begins a process of self-discovery that is accelerated after she meets the charming Robert Lebrun. Yet, when Robert departs for Mexico and the summer vacation ends, Ednas new-found sense of independence and personal freedom mean that she isolates herself from New Orleans society and rejects her former lifestyle. Moving into a home of her own and choosing a lover, Edna soon becomes a protegee of the unconventional pianist Mademoiselle Reisz, through whom she learns that Robert still longs for her.

Centring upon the conflict between Ednas increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and m