However, when they arrive,they find that his circumstances have changed since he made the offer and he can no longer afford to take them on. Denise is forced to put Pepe in lodgings while she looks for work. The suitable vacancies are in the Ladies' Paradise, Paris's first department store and the source of much unrest in the city as it threatens to put many small shopkepers out of business. Denise is spellbound by the place, but her uncle disowns her when she is offered a job at the store.

However, Denise doesn't settle in well. The other girls look down on her because she is from the country and the boss, the much respected Monsieur Mouret is obviously very taken with her. When she is caught talking to her brother Jean, she is sacked as consorting with men in office hours is not allowed and they will not listen to her when she explains that Jean is her brother.

After many months living above a neighbouring shop, she is finally lured back into the Ladies' Paradise when Mouret admits they were wrong to sack her. He promotes her to assistant buyer, then buyer and it becomes clear that he is interested in her. She refuses his invitations and admits that, yes, she is in love with someone. He doesn't realise she means him, and he is devastated. He sinks into a black mood which affects everyone in the store, and they are all aware of the fact that it is his feelings for Denise that are causing this. His deputy advises him to marry Denise regardless of her social class. Denise is also in love with him, but she will not give herself to him without him being totally commited to her. She realises that he cannot marry her, a simple shop girl, so she tells him she is leaving. He tells her she cannot leave and he asks her to marry him. The story ends happily ever after with the ladies' Paradise making a fortune, largely thanks to the more human side that Denise has brought to it.