Father Goriot, a retired vermicelli manufacturer, has given up his entire fortune to provide massive dowries for his two daughters, Anastasie de Restaud and Delphine de Nucingen, enabling them to marry into high Parisian aristocracy. He retreats to the squalid Maison Vauquer, where he lives in extreme poverty while secretly watching his daughters enjoy lives of luxury and social prominence. The boarding house also shelters Eugene de Rastignac, an ambitious young law student from the provinces who is determined to conquer Parisian society at any cost. Guided by the worldly wisdom of his aristocratic cousin, Mme.
de Beauseant, and the sinister cynicism of a fellow boarder named Vautrin, Rastignac begins his ascent by seducing Mme. de Nucingen. As Rastignac becomes entangled in the complex webs of debt, vanity, and ruthless social climbing, he witnesses the complete moral degradation of a society that preys upon the weak.
Goriot's daughters gradually abandon him entirely, ashamed of his humble origins and drained of their financial demands, leaving him to suffer a slow and agonizing decline. Vautrin's hidden identity as an escaped convict is eventually uncovered by the police, exposing the dark underbelly of the city's criminal and financial networks. When Goriot suffers a final, fatal stroke brought on by the financial ruin and cruelty of his daughters, neither of them attends his deathbed, sending only empty carriages to his funeral. Rastignac, deeply shaken by the terrifying reality of Parisian selfishness, stands over the old man's grave and sheds his final tears of youthful innocence before declaring war on the world.
