"Jeanne" (Maria Schneider) is flat-hunting when she encounters the predatory "Paul" (Marlon Brando) in an empty apartment where he proceeds to rape her. It turns out that he has recently lost his wife to suicide and is completely bereft - bewildered and almost feral in his attitude towards this girl. He rents the apartment and she comes back for more - always using the no names no pack drill routine as the sex becomes perfunctorily obsessional for both of them. The question is - can they both remain so dispassionate emotionally as their rendezvous become more intense, more humiliating for her ...