Pablo arrives in British Ceylon from Burma to flee a traumatic relationship that had changed from love into passionate obsession. He notices a young pariah woman who empties his outhouse every morning. To Pablo she appears divine. In one morning, he takes her hand and leads her into his bed. Unable to believe or accept her bizarre fate, she remains passive throughout the series of events that unfold thereafter.

When an alluring young undergrad becomes infatuated with her nearly retired professor, she stirs up the man's humdrum home life in a most unusual way.