The film recounts the relationship between Marie de Régnier (1875-1963) (Marie de Hérédia) and Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925), which takes place in France around the turn of the 20th century. Louÿs and his friend Henri de Régnier both fall in love with Marie, daughter of the poet José-Maria de Heredia. Marie is a respected writer who signed her first book, "L'Inconstante," under the pseudonym Gérard d'Houville. Although she loves Pierre, she marries the wealthy Henri to help pay off her father's debt and to improve her social position. Pierre subsequently flees to Algeria where he meets Zohar, a beguiling woman with whom he starts a passionate relationship. When he returns to France, he takes Zohar with him. Marie becomes his mistress and she and Zohar both engage in erotic games with Pierre and pose nude for him. They discover themselves by transgressing the norms of the bourgeois society they live in. Marie starts to invent stories to inflame Pierre's erotic imagination. With these stories she gains power over him and discovers her sexuality and literary voice. When Pierre goes back on a trip, Marie feels a terrible emptiness and discovers she is pregnant.