In the lower echelons of 1860s Paris, Thérèse Raquin is a sexually repressed beautiful young woman trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille, having been forced into it by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominoes with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband's alluring friend Laurent LeClaire, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Camille soon dies during an outing on the lake with Laurent and Therese, which is revealed to be their doing as Laurent physically beat Camille while he was in the water, causing him to drown. Madame Raquin finds it difficult to come to terms with her son's death and is incapacitated by a stroke. To escape being sentenced for murder, Laurent and Therese choose to take their own lives and they drink poison mixed with champagne, dying in front of Madame Raquin.