Marcel, the protagonist of the novel, lived all his youth at his uncle Robert's home and was raised in the tense athmosphere of uncle's petit-bourgaise character and Marcel's furtive love to aunt Sabine -Robert's wife.

When aunt Sabine died due to her husband's action in a tragic moment Marcel started to feel completely displaced. He could have stopped the murder before: In a cold winters night his uncle once lay in the snow uncounciously. Marcel had saved his life... if he had not, Sabine could still be alive...