The townspeople of oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a Swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr rieux, resist the terror. An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.