Al and Elsa have been a couple for some time, but the chances that their relationship will be long-lived are few. For one thing, Al is appallingly dependent on Elsa for his every emotional need. For another, Elsa is an incredibly elusive person, extremely difficult to pin down about anything - especially whatever is bothering her. How they have managed to survive this long is a cause for wonder. When Al gets an opportunity to be cast in a movie role, complete with no-cost occupancy in the casting agent's ugly but fashionable apartment, he jumps at the chance to provide a little material satisfaction for his beloved Elsa. But what exactly does she want?

Charles, the snobbish young scion of an aristocratic family that has seen better days, stumbles into the weird yet strangely attractive cabaret world while attempting to trace a former mistress of his father. He falls in love with Clémentine, an adolescent member of the cabaret “family” who has created her own tango-obsessed fantasy world amidst the surrounding decadence. Charles, learning that Clémentine might be his half-sister, and thus fearing an incestuous relationship, succumbs to the ambiguous seductions of two Machiavellian accomplices, a magician and a girl dancer.