A young Depardieu stars as Olivier, a petty thief who gets drawn into the world of S&M when his next door neighbor, a high-priced dominatrix (Ogier), catches him burglarizing her apartment. The two embark on a tumultuous, kinky relationship in Schroeder's intense, often funny, examination of love, lust, gender, and bourgeois morality. Includes some graphic violence and sex, viewer discretion advised.