On a remote island near Cherbourg, an old man and a young girl live isolated, surrounded by servants and bodyguards, far from any reflections; Hazel is forbidden to see her own face. Françoise, a nurse, is appointed to care for the girl and discovers why Hazel submits to the old man's tender touch. She will uncover the man's merciless machinations to fulfill an intense, almost obsessive love. In this oppressive isolation, Amélie Nothomb revisits her favorite themes: the illusions of absolute love and the unbreakable bond between passion and perversity. The young author more powerfully reveals her somewhat frightening predilection for morbid romance, which is nevertheless softened by humor and perfectly expressed in a clear and simple writing style.