Set before the French Revolution, the novel depicts the coming of age of a nobleman named Bernard Mauprat. The story is narrated by the old Bernard in his country home many years later, as told to a nameless young male visitor. Bernard recounts how, raised by a violent gang of his feudal kinsmen after the death of his mother, he becomes a brutalized "enfant sauvage". When his cousin Edmée is held captive by Bernard's "family", he helps her escape, but elicits a promise of marriage from her by threatening rape. Thus begins the long courtship of Bernard and Edmée.

George Sand (1804-1876) is a pen name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, a French novelist, memoirist, and journalist. She was one of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. Sand is recognized as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era.