The story happened in a small town in western France. Grandet, the richest man in town, lives in a desolate old house. He is a nouveau riche, and his rich history is well known. He married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant. Later, he traveled around, made a lot of money and inherited several legacies, so he became the richest man. However, the rich Grandet is a very stingy person. He is very frugal and strictly controls family expenses. The furnishings in his house are also very simple. I never thought that the owner here was a millionaire.

One day, on Eugénie's birthday, Eugénie's cousin Charlie suddenly came back from Paris. It turned out that Charlie's father was cheated into bankruptcy and committed suicide, leaving his son to hope for Grandet's help. After reading his brother's suicide note, Grandet felt that Charlie was a burden of life and decided to send him away. Charlie signed a statement renouncing his father's inheritance. Then, Eugénie took out all her savings of 6,000 francs and gave it to Charlie, who gave her a gold-plated dressing box. The two men are engaged in private. Grandet flew into a rage when she heard that her daughter had given all her savings to Charlie. He locked Eugénie up and gave her only cold water and bread. Grandet is a hard-hearted man. He doesn't care who intercedes. Therefore, his wife is afraid of getting sick.

Soon after, Eugénie's mother died, and Grandet tricked his daughter into signing a waiver for fear that she would share his property. In this way, Grandet lived a stable life for many years. Grandet was paralyzed at the age of 82 and had to involve his daughter in estate management. Sitting in a wheelchair, he instructed his daughter to hide bags of gold coins, then put the key to the storage room next to her and touched it from time to time. Before he died, he asked his daughter to pile up gold coins on the table and stare greedily for a long time. At the last ceremony, he tried to grasp the priest's gold-plated cross with his own hands, but he died because of overexertion. After Grandet's death, Eugénie inherited all the property in the family, but she was lonely and often touched the dressing box that Charlie gave her, hoping that Charlie would come back soon.

But in India, Charlie has forgotten about Eugénie. He made a fortune by buying and selling people in India and became as ruthless and stingy as Grandet. After returning home, he abandoned Eugénie's love and prepared to marry an ugly Marquis's daughter, in order to obtain a noble title. Eugénie endured all these pains, paid off a large debt he owed, and finished Charlie's marriage. Finally, Eugénie became the director's nominal wife, but soon her nominal husband died, and Eugénie became a widow, living alone and living a simple life.