The narrative traces the life and inner development of Georges Aymeris, from childhood through artistic maturation, portraying his emotional education, familial losses, early loves, and struggles to reconcile enthusiasm for innovation with bourgeois habits. The book interweaves memoir-like episodes, portraits, and illustrations to depict failed ambitions, sentimental attachments to several women, and the tension between creative aspiration and social constraints, culminating in an epilogue that reflects on missed chances and the artist's place in a changing world.