Based on the youthful passion of the author himself for an older woman, Sentimental Education was characterized by Flaubert as "the moral history of the men of my generation." 

The book narrates the romantic adventures of Frédéric Moreau, a law student, who, returning from Paris to Normandy, falls in love with Madame Arnoux, who is many years his senior. This is the beginning of a love that will last a lifetime. Frédéric forms a friendly relationship with her husband, a businessman of great influence, and as their paths cross again and again over the years, Madame Arnoux remains Moreau's eternal, unfulfilled love.

Combining romance, historical truth, and satire, Sentimental Education is not only one of the most important French novels of the 19th century but also of world literature.