Failed London banker Max Skinner inherits his uncle's vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays. Upon his arrival, he meets a woman from California who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers.

In Grenoble, a prostitute is murdered in her hospital bed. Cora twenty-two and also a prostitute was one of her friends. On a daily basis these women suffer violence receive a miserable salary and work non-stop in terror of the pimps.

At the end of his life, a writer recollects his visit to Beaumanoir, forty years earlier. The strange customs of the folks he met back then left him scared with an unspeakable burden. By telling his story, he hopes to exorcise his past and finally rest in peace.