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The story concerns a young, idealistic man, Bazile, who falls in love with a spirit maiden named Aurore. He is pursued, however, by the conniving Clothilde, who will stop at nothing to snare him as her husband, even if it means duping him into believing that she is carrying his child.
Aurore tells Bazile that they have been sweethearts throughout the ages and that they will be reunited in another life. She also reveals that Clothilde is not bearing his child. Clothilde is madly jealous of Bazile's devotion to Aurore and schemes to expose the fact that he is consorting with spirits, a crime in the village punishable by death. Bazile refuses to renounce his love for Aurore and so the villagers, fearful of witchcraft, hang him.
Released by death, Bazile's spirit rises to meet that of Aurore's. Even the loyal Leonce, who truly loved Clothilde in the beginning, stands by her until he, too, sees her for what she has wrought, and rejects her in the end. Clothilde is left alone, her happiness gone forever.
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