'My father died a year ago. I don't subscribe to the theory according to which we become truly adult when our parents die; we never become truly adult . . .
I spent the last day of my compassionate leave visiting various travel agents. I like holiday brochures, their abstractness, their way of condensing the world into a limited series of possible pleasures and prices; I was particularly fond of the star rating system, which indicated the intensity of the pleasure one was entitled to hope for. I wasn't happy, but I valued happiness and continued to aspire to it.'
Michel is a civil-servant, an account manager at the Ministry of Culture. He is single, and likes his pleasures pre-packaged: game shows, TV movies, pornography and instant mash. When his father is murdered and he comes into some money, Michel takes leave of absence to go on a package tour to Thailand.
Relieved to get away, he is nonetheless infuriated by the shallow hypocrisy and mediocrity of his fellow travellers. Only the awkward Valerie attracts his attention. Too bashful to pursue her, Michel prefers the uncomplicated pleasure of Thai massage parlours and sex with local women. Western society, he believes, has lost the sense of the "other" - the sensual, the exotic - that is necessary to pleasure.
Back in Paris, he calls Valerie and they plunge into a passionate affair which strays far beyond the bounds of Michel's previous "vanilla" existence, into S&M, partner-swapping and sex in public.
Michel quits his job, and tries to help Valerie and her boss, Jean-Yves, in their ailing travel business, putting his philosophy into practice by offering consenting adults sexual tourism in the third world. The project is risky, but when the three return to Thailand, Michel discovers that sex is neither the most consuming nor the most dangerous of human passions . . .
