A young Charles Bovary starts formal school. Charles is nervous and tries to be on his best behavior. He’s shy, and the other boys tease him as the teachers try to get Charles to speak up. His father was once an army surgeon but married a wealthy woman and spent all of his wife’s fortune on partying. Charles’s father tried to raise him with tough love, but Charles’s mother has always been kind and giving to him. Her influence ultimately won over Charles’s father, who has mostly receded from family and public life because he can no longer afford a nice home and his former partying ways. Charles is largely an unmemorable student. His parents withdraw him from the lycée after three years to start medical school. Charles’s mother sets him up in the boarding room of a dyer she knows in Rouen so that he can start his independent life.

At first, Charles is a devoted student, but he gets distracted by the beauty of the river and yearns for the countryside. He stops attending lectures and classes. He ends up at bars, becoming interested in dominoes and love. He fails his exams, even though his family has already planned a celebration for him.