The second in his Scène de la vie de campagne series, it addresses the author's preoccupations with social organisation, political power and religion, though Balzac's own political principles were not those of the character Dr Benassis.

The heart of the third part of the book is made up of tales told during a vigil in a barn by Goguelat, a former soldier in the armies of Napoleon.

This section uses material that Balzac had gathered for a planned work, Les Batailles napoléoniennes, which he began but never finished.

In 1829 Commander Genestas arrives in a village in the Dauphiné, where he meets Dr Benassis, who has transformed the miserable settlement into a small but prosperous town in only ten years.

In a minor key, it evokes the unhappy love affairs of its two main characters, Doctor Benassis and Genestas.