Le Paysan parvenu

Jacob is the son of a poor peasant farmer in provincial France, and the family usually transport the wines of the local estate owner.

Jacob ends up in the estate owner's house in Paris as a sort of servant, where a serving girl Genevieve falls in love with him.

Eventually the two sisters fall into a row about him, and the younger leaves home, finding lodgings where Jacob can also stay, with Mme d’Alain and her disagreeable daughter.

Eventually they decide to get married, but this results in severe opposition from the elder and the director who put every obstacle in their way, including an interview with the magistrate.

However Jacob charms the company, including the influential and attractive Mme de Ferval, and so the marriage is allowed to proceed.

Mme de Ferval arranges a secret rendez-vous with Jacob, but the occasion is lost when a young officer bursts in thinking there was someone else there.