In the small town of Verrières, Julien Sorel, a poor carpenter's son and brilliant Latin scholar, becomes a tutor for the children of the mayor, Monsieur de Rênal. Torn between his dreams of grandeur and his social standing, he attracts the attention of Louise de Rênal, his employer's wife.

Fleeing the seminary and its intrigues, Julien goes to Paris to enter the service of the Marquis de La Mole as a private secretary. Despising the aristocracy for its hypocrisy and the humiliations it inflicts, he finds himself falling under the spell of Mathilde, the Marquis's daughter.