It is a novel whose plot hinges on the correspondence between a famous poet and a young female admirer of his work. It is the fifth of the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life) in La Comédie humaine.

Modeste Mignon, a young provincial woman of romantic temperament, imagines herself to be in love with the famous Parisian poet Melchior de Canalis. She corresponds with him, but he is unmoved by her attentions. Canalis invites his secretary Ernest de la Brière to deal with the matter. Ernest replies to Modeste in Canalis' name. Ernest discovers that Modeste's father Charles Mignon has returned from his long exile a very wealthy man: Modeste is no longer a poor provincial girl but a rich heiress with six million francs to her name. Ernest reveals his true identity, but Modeste feels humiliated and casts him off. When Modeste's true worth becomes generally known, Canalis takes a renewed interest in her and believes that his poetic ardor will enable him to win her heart. But his secretary is no longer his only rival: a local wealthy potentate the Duc d'Hérouville now regards the nouveau-riche Modeste Mignon as a suitable match. Thanks to Butscha's intrigues and her father's good sense, Modeste realizes that Ernest is the one who truly loves her. Modeste chooses Ernest and the two are married.

Honoré de Balzac (20 May 1799 —18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. He is generally regarded as a founding-father of realism in European fiction. His large output of works, collectively entitled The Human Comedy (La Comidie Humaine), consists of 95 finished works (stories, novels and essays) and 48 unfinished works, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon. His masterpieces: Eugenie Grandet and Father Goriot.