In an elegant and crumbling palazzo old Miss Bordereau lives on with her niece closely guarding her most precious treasure a hoard of letters written to her in her youth by the great American love poet Jeffrey Aspern. Adopting a nom de guerre the tale's narrator a literary researcher arrives at the palazzo and inveigles the two ladies into taking him in as their lodger. There he watches and waits for the moment to pounce. For he is determind to gain possesion of the Aspern papers and willing to pay almost any price.