Gustave Flaubert

Emma Rouault leaves her father to marry Charles Bovary and live among the bourgeoisie of Yonville. She fills her head with notions of gallantry and high romance, which she finds in a tempestuous love affair with the local squire.

Beautiful Emma meets and marries Doctor Charles Bovary. He's happy for the first time in his life - but Emma is distraught that her marriage lacks the passion and romance of her fantasies. Dazzled by the splendour of a Marquis' ball, she longs for excitement and soon becomes infatuated with a young solicitor, Léon Dupuis. But when Dupuis moves away, her memories of him lead her to despair - and into the arms of wealthy landowner, Rodolphe Boulanger. As she moves from one illicit liaison to another, Emma's complicated life begins to unravel. Exhausted from her debts and her affairs, she feels she is left with only one course of action…