Zola's classic novel about young priest Serge Mouret as he takes his orders and becomes the parish priest for the disinterested village of Artauds. The inbred villagers do not care for Mouret, and he is forced to contemplate religious affairs and the extent of his faith. Eventually he has a complete nervous breakdown and collapses into a near-comatose state, whereupon suffering from amnesia and total long-term memory loss, with no idea who or where he is beyond his first name, he falls for and uneducated girl who has been left to grow up practically alone. As with most Zola novels, heartache and despair are the driving forces behind Mouret's further decisions.