Résumé
Set in the 16th-century French court of King Henri II, the novel introduces Mademoiselle de Chartres, a young woman of remarkable beauty and virtue, who is married to the Prince de Clèves, a man who deeply loves her but whom she does not passionately love in return.
Soon after her marriage, she meets the handsome and charming Duc de Nemours, and an immediate, mutual love blossoms between them. Despite her profound feelings for Nemours, the Princesse de Clèves is committed to her marital fidelity and moral principles, largely influenced by her mother's strict moral upbringing.
The novel details her intense internal struggle between her burgeoning passion and her unwavering sense of duty and virtue.