David Bourne (Jack Huston), a promising American novelist now living in Paris, meets the volatile and seductive Catherine (Mena Suvari) and immediately falls under her spell. After a whirlwind romance they set off for their honeymoon on the Cote d'Azur. David is increasingly distracted from his writing by Catherine's sexual liberation and erotic role-playing.

As David struggles to control his emotions, Catherine raises the erotic tension by bringing David a "present" in the form of the sultry Marita (Caterina Murino), an Italian heiress, who provokes excitement and jealousy in both David and Catherine. As he becomes a pawn between the two manipulative women, David retreats into his writing, re-creating the story of his relationship with his father, a charismatic big-game hunter (Matthew Modine). As jealous as she is of Marita, Catherine is even more obsessively envious of David's success as a writer, especially if his stories do not involve her. Catherine becomes vindictive and her dangerous, erotic game-playing only serves to drive David into Marita's arms.