"I don't have anything nice to wear. How could I go?"
"The Minister of Education & Madame Georges request the ... company of M. and Mme. Loisel..."
"It's hard to say exactly but I think I could manage with 400 francs."
Listen, Mathilde, how much would an evening dress cost - a suitable one that you could wear again..."
"Could you lend me this one-just this and nothing else?"
"Yes, of course"
Set in Paris, France 1880. A young middle-class woman named Mathilde dreams of having a life of luxury beyond her reach. She's unhappy with what she has already. One day, her husband comes home with an invitation to attend a fancy party. Mathilde is excited and wants to attend but is distraught by her looks. She wants something that will make her stand out.
Mathilde dreams of looking beautiful at the party. Her husband sees that she's distraught so he offers to give her money to buy a dress, but she is not satisfied until she asks a wealthy friend for a necklace to borrow.
"Oh my poor Mathilde! Mine was false. It was worth five hundred francs at the most!"
Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend and is finally ready to be all dressed up for the party.
"What I gave back to you was another one just like it. And it took us ten years to pay for it."
At the party, Mathilde is a hit! She felt beautiful, but on her way home the necklace goes missing. After days of searching, she and her husband decide to replace it with a very expensive one that looks identical. The replacement costs more than what they make and it takes them 10 years to pay it off.
After ten years of vigorous work and struggles, the couple finally pays off their debts.
One day Mathilde is walking to the market and sees the friend that she borrowed the necklace from. She tells her what happened. The friend, Madame Forestier, tells Mathilde that the necklace was fake and was only worth a small amount of money. The reader is left to contimplate the irony of the situation.