"People inexperienced in the feat of virtue may find it advantageous to indulge in vice instead of resisting it." Therefore, “it is necessary to imagine the power of examples of unhappy virtue,” which can lead to good “a spoiled soul, if at least some good principles are preserved in it”. Such aspirations are guided by the author of the novel, in a grim and grotesque form, painting modern manners.
Fate puts the sisters Justine and Juliette severely tested: their parents die, and the girls find themselves on the street without a livelihood. The beautiful Juliette enters the path of debauchery and quickly turns the latter into a source of income, and her equally charming sister wants to remain virtuous at all costs. A few years later, Juliette, mired in vice and stained herself with many crimes, among which the murder of her husband, illegitimate children and lovers, achieves everything she wanted: she is the Countess de Lorsange, a rich widow, she has a lover, the venerable Mr. de Corville, living with her, as with a legal spouse.
One day, traveling with de Corville, in the inn Juliette meets a girl who is taken to Paris to impose her death sentence: the girl is accused of murder, theft and arson. The tender and sad face of the beauty awakens in the countess’s soul hitherto unknown compassion, with the permission of the gendarmes, she greets the girl and asks her to tell her story. The girl agrees, but refuses to disclose her origin. However, the reader probably guessed that in front of him was the unfortunate Justine, so that in the future we will call the girl her real name.
Once behind the gates of the monastery alone and without money, Justine decides to engage in servants, but soon with horror he becomes convinced that you can get a place only by sacrificing your virtue. Finally, a wealthy moneylender takes her into service. He tests the integrity of Justine - makes her rob a rich neighbor. When she refuses, he accuses her of theft, and the girl is sent to prison. There she meets the adventurous Dubois and, together with her, escapes from prison.
The robber Dubois forces Justine to join the gang, and when she refuses, she gives her outrage to the robbers. Everyday suffering moral and physical torment, Justine remains in a gang, but with all her might tries to maintain her virginity. Once robbers capture a certain Saint Florent; Justine from philanthropy helps the prisoner to escape and flees with him herself. But St. Florent turns out to be a villain: he stuns Justine, unconsciously rapes her and throws her into the woods to her fate.
Tormented Justine accidentally becomes a witness to the unnatural connection of Count de Brissac with his lackey. Having discovered the girl, the count first frightens her half to death, but then changes her anger to mercy and arranges her as a maid to her aunt. Despite his charming appearance, in the soul of Mr. de Brissac live all sorts of vices. In an effort to instill in Justine the principles of his perverted morality, he orders her to poison her aunt. The startled Justine tells everything to Madame de Brissac. The old woman is indignant, and the Count, realizing that he was betrayed, lures Justine out of the house, rips off her clothes, poisons the dogs, and then lets go on all four sides.
Justine gets to the nearest town, finds a doctor, and he heals her wounds. Since Justine runs out of money, she dares to write to Count de Brissac, so that he returns the salary due to her.In response, the count reports that his aunt died of poison, they consider Justine a poisoner and the police are looking for her, so it is in her interests to hide somewhere in a secluded place and not to bother him anymore. Upset Justine confides in Dr. Roden, and he offers her a place as a servant in her house. The girl agrees.
In addition to medicine, Roden contains a school where boys and girls study together, all are charming as to selection. Unable to understand what was the matter, Justine begins to question Dr. Rosalia's daughter, with whom she managed to make friends. With horror, Justine learns that the doctor indulges in debauchery with both students and his own daughter. Rosalie takes Justine into a secret room, from where she observes the monstrous orgies arranged by Rodin with his victims. Nevertheless, Justine, at the request of Rosalia, remains in the doctor’s house and begins to instruct her friend in the Christian faith. Suddenly, Rosalia disappears. Suspecting her father in another monstrous trick, Justine searches the house and finds her friend locked in a secret closet: Roden decided to kill his daughter by performing some kind of surgery on her. Justine arranges for Rosalie to escape, but she herself falls into the hands of the doctor; Rodin puts a stigma on her back and lets go. Justine is horrified - she was already sentenced, and now also the stigma ... She decides to run south, away from the capital.
Justine goes to the monastery, where the miraculous statue of the Holy Virgin is stored, and decides to go to pray. In the monastery she is met by the abbot Don Severino. The noble appearance and the pleasant voice of the abbot inspire confidence, and the girl frankly tells him about her misadventures. After making sure that Justine has no relatives or friends, the monk changes her tone, grabs her roughly and drags her into the depths of the monastery: behind the facade of the holy monastery lies a nest of debauchery and vice. Four hermits, led by the abbot, entice girls to themselves whose disappearance does not entail any consequences, force them to participate in orgies and indulge in the most unbridled debauchery, satisfying the perverted voluptuousness of the holy brethren. Depending on the age of the girls, they are divided into four categories, each category has its own color of clothes, its daily routine, its classes, and its mentors. The extreme caution of the holy fathers and their high position make them invulnerable. Women who are bored with monks are released, but judging by some hints, this freedom means death. It is impossible to escape from the monastery - there are thick bars on the windows, around a moat and several rows of barbed hedges. Nevertheless, the tormented Justine, who almost gave up her spirit under the rogues of libertines, decides to escape. By accidentally finding a file, she cuts a window grill, tears through prickly bushes, rolls into a moat filled with corpses, and runs in horror into the forest. There she kneels and praises the Lord. But then two strangers grab her, throw a bag over her head and drag him somewhere.
Justine is brought to the castle of Count de Jernand, an elderly libertine of enormous growth, who becomes excited only at the sight of blood. Justine will serve his fourth wife, fading from constant bloodletting. The kind-hearted girl agrees to help her unhappy lady - to transmit a letter to her mother. But alas! Going down the rope from the castle window, she falls right into the arms of the owner! Now Justine will be punished - a slow death from blood loss. Suddenly there is a cry: "Madam at death!", And Justine, taking advantage of the bustle, runs away from the castle. Having escaped from the clutches of the terrible count, she gets to Lyon and decides to spend the night in a hotel. There she is met by St. Florent; he invites her to become a consolidator with him, which is obliged to supply him with two virgins a day. Justine refuses and hurries out of the city.On the way, she wants to give alms to a beggar, but she hits her, pulls out her purse and runs away. Calling on the Lord, Justine moves on. Meeting a wounded man, she assists him. Having regained consciousness, Mr. Roland invites her to his castle, promising a maid's place. Justine believes, and together they embark on a journey. Barely approaching Roland’s gloomy secluded dwelling, the girl realizes that she was again deceived. Roland - the leader of a gang of counterfeiters; first, he makes the unfortunate Justine twist a heavy collar, and then throws it into the dungeon, where she tormented her in order to satisfy her lust. The poor thing is put in a coffin, suspended, beaten, thrown into the mountains of corpses ...
Suddenly gendarmes arrive; they arrest Roland and take to court in Grenoble. The noble judge believes Justine's innocence and lets her go. The girl leaves the city. At night, a fire occurs in the hotel where she stayed, and Justine goes to prison on charges of arson. The unfortunate turns to St. Florent for help, he abducts her from prison, but only to torment and abuse her. In the morning, St. Florent returns the girl to prison, where she is sentenced to death.
After hearing the story of the unfortunate, the Countess de Lorsange recognizes Justine, and the sisters sob into each other's arms.
Monsieur de Corville seeks the liberation and justification of the girl; Madame de Lorsange takes her to her estate, where Justine will finally be able to live calmly and happily. But fate orders otherwise: lightning flies into the castle window and kills Justine. Her sister Juliet repents of her past sins and leaves for the monastery. We can only shed tears over the unfortunate fate of virtue.
