Georges Duroy is the "Bel Ami" as one of his mistresses calls him. A handsome young man from the French countryside, penniless, without particular skills, but prone to pleasures, he seeks his fortune in Paris.

He accidentally meets an old friend, Forestier, who helps him find a job as a journalist at the newspaper "La Vie Française," giving him the opportunity to make a start…

A heartbreaker and adventurer with a way with women! Without any moral scruples, he uses them to climb the social ladder and achieve the wealthy life he dreams of.

Maupassant portrays the people and environment of the Belle Epoque and offers a masterpiece to the public, satirizing a society based on money and shaken by political scandals at the end of the 19th century.