For the next ten years, the expensive necklace the Loisels buy to replace the lost one dictates their every move. Loans take out to buy the replacement must be repaid, requiring long hours of work and the giving up of even modest treats and comforts. The effort exhausts and disheartens them, and Mme. Loisel blames her fate on the capricious nature of life. After the loans have all been repaid, a chance meeting between Mme. Loisel and the wealthy friend who lent her the necklace reveals the simple truth. The necklace that Mme. Loisel borrowed was a fake. It would have cost only a small sum to replace if Mme. Loisel had told her friend that it was missing.