While in Morocco researching works by the French painter Delacroix, English historian John Locke (James Wilby) begins to have visions of an ethereal woman who may be the long-dead subject of Delacroix's sketches. As Locke's obsession with the ghostly woman grows, his liaison with sultry Moroccan girl Belkis (Dany Verissimo) leads him into a dangerous world of underground sadomasochism. Alain Robbe-Grillet directs this erotically charged mystery.