Paris 1895; Pierre is a Parisian dandy and poet on the verge of fame. He and his poet friend Henri are both madly in love with Marie, the cheeky daughter of their mentor, Franco-Cuban poet José-Maria de Heredia. Although she loves Pierre, obeying her father she marries Henri to pay off her father's debt and in search of a better social position. Thereupon Pierre decides to flee to Algeria and there meets Zohar, with whom he shares a passion for erotic photography. Returning to Paris with her two years later, he finds Marie again, who confesses that he is the one she loves. They start a case against the backdrop of Paris's erotic photography, in a cat-and-mouse game with people who involve their lives and breaking the codes set by society which will will make them one of the best-known writers and poets of 19th-century France.