Julien Sorel, brilliant son of a provincial carpenter, rises through seduction, hypocrisy, and calculation — as tutor in the Rênal household, then as secretary to a Parisian aristocrat. His relationship with two women (Mme de Rênal and the volatile Mathilde de la Mole) ultimately destroys him.
Fabrizio del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman, wanders onto the field of Waterloo (without understanding what is happening), flees various entanglements, falls in love with the actress Marietta, and becomes caught in the political intrigues of the court of Parma, where his aunt, the Duchess Sanseverina, rules through her relationship with the Count.