Nigel (Hugh Grant) is an English perfect gentleman, married to equally respectable Fiona (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas). On a cruise heading for India, they meet a highly unconventional couple, American unpublished would-be literary celebrity Oscar (Peter Coyote), in a wheelchair, and his much younger Parisian wife, Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner). Oscar insists in telling his unsettling life story to Nigel, who is too polite to refuse, although its gory content, shamelessly explicit details, and foul Yankee language rather disgust the well-bred Brit, yet becomes also fascinated. Oscar tells how he found by chance in Mimi, a willing partner for sex, ever pushing their boundaries. When he tires of spiralling passionate devotion to her, the tables turn: Mimi begs Oscar to stay with her at any price, and gets what she bargained for, sadistic scorn and abuse till she's a mere shadow of her former self, yet is finally abandoned on a flight to Martinique. Later, Oscar has a car accident, and Mimi returns to Paris to make sure he is condemned to a wheelchair for life, this time utterly dependent on her, no longer free to choose accepting her abuse, yet they get married. Meanwhile, Fiona tires of waiting for Nigel during Oscar's story sessions and spends time with flirtatious Italian Dado (Luca Vellani). During the New Year's Eve party, things come to a surprisingly real and personal closure, not in the least for Nigel.