Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve), is a 23 year old. beautiful, newlywed housewife, married to the respectable and uninteresting surgeon, Dr. Pierre Serizy ().Despite their love for each other, Séverine is frigid and sleeps in a separate bed, rejecting his sexual advances. Her sexual life is restricted to elaborate fantasies involving dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and bondage.