Andreas addresses a young man named Walter in a preface, promising to teach him all about love.

Andreas defines love as a form of suffering caused by being consumed with thoughts of the beloved.

Andreas specifies that love is only for able-bodied individuals of opposite sexes within certain age ranges.

Andreas outlines five ways to acquire love but endorses only good character and eloquent speech.

A middle-class man argues to a simple noblewoman that his good character alone makes him a worthy lover.

A simple nobleman tells a noblewoman the story of encountering an army of the dead to persuade her to accept love.

The King of Love enumerates 12 rules of love to a nobleman during his vision of the army of the dead.

A higher nobleman and a noblewoman debate vigorously whether true love can exist within a marriage.

A noblewoman insists that her dispute with a nobleman about love and jealousy be submitted to a female arbiter.

The Countess of Champagne issues a written ruling that marital affection and true love have absolutely nothing in common.

Andreas advises lovers to keep their affairs secret and practice wisdom and restraint to retain love over time.

A knight riding through a forest meets a woman who sends him on a quest to King Arthur's court to secure a hawk.

The knight defeats multiple opponents and discovers 31 rules of love on a parchment tied to the hawk's perch.

Andreas addresses Walter again and presents 13 reasons why men should avoid love as sinful and spiritually ruinous.

Andreas urges Walter to reject love entirely and remain chaste to earn honor in this world and eternal glory after death.

Andreas opens his treatise by addressing Walter in a preface, promising to educate him about love while hoping the knowledge will discourage him from pursuing it. He defines love, identifies who may experience it, and explains that character and speech—not wealth—are the proper means of acquiring it. The dialogues between men and women of different classes demonstrate the proper approach to courtly love, culminating in the Countess of Champagne's landmark ruling that love and marriage are incompatible. Book 2 provides advice for retaining love, concluding with the story of a knight who quests to King Arthur's court and returns with 31 rules of love. In Book 3, Andreas reverses course entirely, presenting 13 reasons why men should avoid love as sinful and harmful. He closes by urging Walter to remain chaste, promising that rejecting love leads to honor in this world and eternal glory in the next.

The main arc of Andreas's treatise from love's definition to its rejection.

Andreas explains that love derives from the Latin word for hook, connecting love with the act of capturing or being captured.

Andreas explains that love elevates a lover's character and inspires good deeds, though it is also unpredictable and unfair.

A higher noblewoman declines a middle-class man's appeal but outlines all the qualities a worthy lover must possess.

A simple nobleman poses as an ambassador from Love's court to debate whether good character is more admirable in commoners or nobles.

A middle-class woman warns a higher nobleman that men of his rank are known to abandon lower-class lovers once bored.

Andreas declares that clergy are the noblest class by divine calling but says this does not affect their social rank in love.

Andreas condemns loving nuns as abominable and a scandal to God and men, warning Walter to avoid being alone with them.

Andreas warns that love obtained with money or gifts is not real love and dishonors women who demand payment.

Andreas compares peasants to farm animals and declares that love is contrary to their nature.

Andreas warns Walter to avoid prostitutes entirely, stating that dealing with them causes lewdness and destroys a man's good name.

Andreas lists behaviors that decrease love, including seeing a lover too often, avarice, dishonesty, and mocking a lover's modesty.

Andreas explains that love ends through infidelity, straying from the faith, marrying the beloved, or losing the capacity to love.

Andreas describes signs that love is returned, noting that a woman who truly loves will turn pale in her lover's presence.

Andreas presents 21 arbitrated love cases, including a ruling that marital affection and true love are simply not comparable.

Andreas acknowledges that his book contains two opposing views—one teaching love's rules and one arguing men should reject love.

Beneath the main plot of Andreas's treatise lies a wealth of secondary instruction that defines the true boundaries of courtly love. Andreas explains love's Latin etymology, details which character traits make a man worthy, and addresses how men of different classes should approach women above or below their station. He systematically dismisses love involving clergy, nuns, peasants, and prostitutes as unacceptable or spiritually dangerous, narrowing the definition of legitimate courtly love considerably. Book 2 then identifies the specific behaviors that cause love to decline or end entirely, and describes how a lover can test whether the beloved's feelings are genuine. The 21 arbitrated love cases provide a legalistic framework for resolving lovers' disputes, reinforcing that marriage and love are entirely separate domains. Andreas concludes by openly acknowledging that his book deliberately presents two opposing perspectives—one teaching love's rules and one arguing men should reject it altogether.

The secondary teachings, warnings, and rules that flesh out the art of love.

Andreas declares that love can only exist between persons of opposite sexes, ruling out same-sex relationships as contrary to nature.

A middle-class man reveals that love advances through four stages: giving hope, granting a kiss, enjoying an embrace, and full surrender.

A middle-class man twists a middle-class woman's reluctant parting remark to claim she has promised him her love.

A middle-class man interprets a simple noblewoman's dismissive farewell as proof that his hope of winning her love will bear fruit.

A noblewoman tells a simple nobleman that Love's court is like hell—easy to enter but impossible to escape.

A woman from the army of the dead urges a living nobleman to warn women that rejecting love brings eternal torment.

A middle-class woman tells a higher nobleman she would rather abandon love entirely than risk being cast aside by him.

A higher nobleman dismisses his wife as an obstacle and cites the Countess of Champagne's ruling to justify pursuing another woman.

A higher noblewoman accuses the higher nobleman of being a clergyman who should be discouraging love rather than demanding it.

A higher nobleman and higher noblewoman debate whether the upper or lower body is more central to love's true fulfillment.

A higher noblewoman poses a dilemma about a woman whose presumed-dead lover returns after she has already taken a new one.

Andreas rules that a woman is not permitted to refuse her lover if he changes his mind from pure love to mixed love.

Andreas reveals that men who are unfaithful with servants or prostitutes should be forgiven, while unfaithful women deserve punishment.

Andreas declares that no woman anywhere in the world is capable of truly feeling or returning love.

Andreas reveals that Love carries unequal weights, causing men to fall for women who are constitutionally incapable of returning their feelings.

From the very first dialogue, Andreas's treatise is full of moments that subvert what came before, as men routinely twist women's reluctant words into apparent promises of love. The Fifth Dialogue introduces a pagan framework—the army of the dead—in which rejecting love brings eternal torment, fundamentally undermining the noblewoman's resistance to love's claims. The Seventh and Eighth Dialogues escalate the contradictions, with a nobleman dismissing his own wife as an obstacle and a noblewoman revealing that her debating partner is a clergyman who should be preaching chastity instead of demanding love. Book 2 exposes a deep power imbalance when Andreas rules that women cannot refuse a lover who escalates from pure to mixed love, while men are forgiven for infidelities that women would be harshly punished for. Book 3 delivers the most devastating revelation: that no woman is capable of truly feeling or returning love, making every rule of courtly love ultimately futile. Andreas closes by revealing that Love carries unequal weights, dooming men to fall for women who are constitutionally incapable of loving them back.

The key revelations, twists, and turning points that expose the true nature of courtly love.