In the grime of a mining town, Paul Morel is torn between a possessive, spiritual mother and a coarse, vitality-filled father. His search for romantic love is perpetually haunted by this primal Oedipal bond, leaving a trail of broken relationships. Passion, grief, and the struggle for self-definition collide in this masterpiece of modernist literature. It is a visceral examination of how the heart is shaped—and sometimes scarred—by the ones we love first.