Julie Marsden is a Southern belle in pre-Civil War New Orleans with a knack for manipulating the men in her life. Scorned by the man she loves, she lashes out in revenge and destroys lives in the process.

In 1862 Paris, Emile Zola is barely scratching out a living writing muckraking articles about the poverty of the French people and the corruption of their leaders. Until "Nana," about the life of a prostitute, becomes a smash hit and turns Zola into a celebrity, champion of the people. As he churns out a string of similar books that make him quite rich, his old friend Paul Cezanne tells him "An artist should remain poor." His determined intervention...