Madame Mathilde Loisel longs to be wealthy and to live a lifestyle her low-paid clerk husband cannot afford to give her, though he does his best to make her happy. After lots of begging, he produces for her two invitations to a fancy party, which she at first refuses for she has nothing to wear. Her husband gives her money he had saved for a luxury purchase of his own for her to buy a gown with, and she borrows a diamond necklace from a wealthier friend. When she arrives home late after the party and discovers the necklace missing from her neck, Mathilde and her husband attempt to replace the piece of jewelry without alarming Mathilde's friend, but it proves an expensive and painstaking task.