The story of the novel "Red and Black" is reportedly taken from a death penalty case published in1Court Newspaper on February 29th, 828. In the Napoleonic era, red and black represented "the army" and "the church", which were two channels for the development of ambitious French youth (red and black on roulette). The background of the story is Verrières, a village in eastern France. There is a young man from other provinces named Julian sorrell. His father is a carpenter. Although Julian was born in poverty, he is handsome, has big eyes, works hard and has an amazing memory. He studied carpentry, Latin and theology. He worships Napoleon and thinks that he is "a humble and poor junior officer who can dominate the world with his long sword", so he is obsessed with books and prepares to become a priest in the future, not because he is really interested in religion, but because he wants to use religion to achieve his goal of climbing the upper class.

He plunged into Father Rabe Chelan's door and recited the whole Latin Bible with amazing memory, which caused a sensation in the whole city. Due to the recommendation of Father Xilang, Mr. Reina, the mayor and industrialist of Villiers, asked him to be a tutor. Mr. Reina's family has the most beautiful garden in the city, and even feels uneasy about his duties. He took this opportunity to meet the young lady of the mayor, Mrs. De Reinol. The lady who grew up in a monastery is disgusted with her husband. She focused on raising three children. She thinks that men "except" at the same time, Eliza, the lady's maid, also fell in love with Lian. She asked Father Xilang to convey her love for Lian, but she was rejected. In the summer, the mayor's family moved to the countryside of Fanny Town for the summer, and even took a step further to the mayor's wife and broke into her room in the middle of the night. The maid Eliza told Velino about his wife, and Velino wrote to tell the mayor that Reina knew about it, but there was nothing he could do. Father Xilang suggested that he go to Besancon Theological Seminary for further study.

The dean, Father M. Pirard, is a good friend of Father Shiro. He took special care of Lian and asked him to be the tutor of the New Testament and Old Testament courses. Later, before leaving office, Father pilar introduced Julian as a private secretary at the Marquis de Dramort. At this time, he met Mathilde de la Moore, the daughter of the Marquis. Mathilde is proud and beautiful, eager to pursue romance. She despises ordinary aristocratic sons, but sparks love with proud Julian. She instructed Julian to climb the stairs into her bedroom in the moonlight. When Julian met her with a puzzled face, Mathilde showed his love to him, but Mathilde soon regretted it, so she stayed away from him. Julian followed his friend's advice and pursued her friend Mrs. Marshall. After Julian returned to Paris, she began to write one love letter after another to Mrs. Marshall. Mrs. Marshall was deeply moved and wrote back to Julian. Finally, Mathilde couldn't stand the blow, knelt at Lian's feet and begged him to love her. Mathilde found out that she was pregnant, so the two sides talked about marriage. Although the Marquis Moore was angry, he was forced to give Lian a lot of property and aristocratic status, and he became a lieutenant of the hussars. Julian began to fantasize about becoming a commander at the age of thirty. At this time, the mayor's wife wrote to your wife's parents out of jealousy, exposing his scandal and letting Lian's previous efforts go to waste. In a rage, Lian shot and wounded the mayor's wife in the church. Later, Lian realized that the mayor's wife was forced by the priest and regretted it. The court sentenced Julian to death for premeditated murder. Julian refused to appeal, refused to say his last prayers and was guillotined. Mathilde got into the carriage and put Julian's head on his knee. He came to the cemetery he chose before his death and buried it himself. Three days later, the mayor's wife died of her injuries.