A young man called Pierre gets himself expelled from an ultra-conservative religious sect for breaking the rules. An immigrant in a strange land, he now finds himself alone and confused. Though tormented by past troubles, it's his present situation which consumes him and drives him to some rigorous self-examination. Most engulfing of all, though, is his obsession with two people: 'Lulu, who represents the kind of pure and lasting love he craves; and 'Fern', who is the antithesis of Lulu, and who drives Pierre mad with desire as she drifts in and out of his life like a recurring dream. A suspicious death prompts Pierre to take comfort in a friend, to whom he can now relate more than ever, but it isn't long before he finds out that they have one more astonishing thing in common. Pierre has some big decisions to make, and he discovers that what he has been looking for was never far away."