As the novel opens Pierre is a boy, raised by a wealthy family of Belgian winemakers. Precociously curious about the opposite sex - particularly the intimate garments he finds drying in the laundry room - he is initiated into the erotic by a family servant, and soon moves on to the more forbidden charms of his lovely, sophisticated half-sister. As he comes of age - attending art school, becoming an acclaimed painter, and settling in Bordeaux - Pierre simultaneously pursues ever more complex pleasures, devouring his father's collection of de Sade, Restif de la Bretonne, and other erotic classics; sampling the varieties of women - from a Senegalese prostitute, to a lesbian who works as a dominatrix to rich men, to a beautiful German who becomes his last, most perfect lover; and exploring the limits of his fetishes for dressing up and the adoration of beautiful, feminine feet.