First published in Graham's Magazine in November 1845, the story centers on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France.

A large and lavish spread of food is served, but the narrator notices a great many candles placed all over the table and room, as well as a musical ensemble whose performance becomes increasingly loud and cacophonous as the meal progresses.

The narrator closes his story by saying that the staff have restored order at the hospital and reinstated the soothing system, with some changes, and that he has been unable to find any works by either Tarr or Fether.

People were calling for asylum reform because the mentally ill were being treated as prisoners, while increased acquittals due to the insanity defense were criticized for allowing criminals to avoid punishment.

[2] The story has been interpreted as a satirical political commentary on American democracy, a parody of the work of Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Parker Willis, and is also understood as a critique on 19th-century medical practices.