<P>Impoverished young aristocrat Eugene de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying at the Maison Vauquer a boarding house in Paris's rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters.</P><P>The boarders strike up a friendship and Goriot learns of Rastignac's feelings for his daughter Delphine. He begins to see Rastignac as the ideal son-in-law and the perfect substitute for Delphine's domineering husband. But Rastignac has other opportunities too as the notorious criminal Vautrin 'The Death Dodger' offers to murder the brother of a wealthy woman giving the ambitious young lawyer a clear path to her fortune.</P><P>Profound and realistic <I>Father Goriot</I> is a startling glimpse into the vanity and selfishness of 19th-century Paris. It is considered one of the finest works of Balzac's La Comedie Humaine.</P>