They are absorbed by a hedonic treadmill in which brief periods of increased prosperity invariably lead back to awareness of new material desires; this cycle is interrupted, but only temporarily, by the Algerian War, during which they turn their attention to anti-fascist political activism. Outside of this interlude, the text focuses on "the ordinary, the banal, the familiar" aspects of the couple's middle-class life, described by Perec as "the sociology of the quotidian." In the shorter second part of the novel, narrated in the future tense, Jerôme and Sylvie "will attempt to flee" France for a fresh start and find work abroad in Sfax, Tunisia (where the author Georges Perec and his wife lived in 1960–1961). During their 8 months in Sfax, they feel disconnected from the surrounding society and grow increasingly numb even to their formerly intense material desires. After they return to France, the story ends abruptly with a pessimistic view of their future happiness, despite predictions of their increasing material comfort. The epilogue concludes with a quote from Karl Marx on the means and ends of searching for truth and meaning.