Pascal, a landowner fallen on hard times and trapped in a miserable marriage, runs away from home and wins a lot of money at the gaming tables in Monte Carlo. Meanwhile a dead body has been found in his village, and his neighbors assume it is Pascal— that he has killed himself. Seizing the chance to create a new life, Pascal travels to Rome under an assumed name, struggles to invent a different identity, fails, and returns home. There, he finds his wife has remarried. Now he must act out the role of a living ghost. These tragic events are recounted with verve and wit in Simborowski's spirited translation.