An adventurer and ladies’ man, Georges Duroy, arrives in Paris with little more than military bearing, an attractive appearance, and an insatiable thirst for success. He is offered a job as a journalist at one of the largest French newspapers, and soon achieves major breakthroughs in his career. Duroy’s rise is swift and utterly shameless. He seduces wives, manipulates mistresses, and uses every connection as quickly as he understands that in a world where the press determines politics and lifestyle, the fastest path to success and power runs through the bedrooms of influential women.