Celita is a stripper at the Monico, a nightclub in Cannes. She is also the long-standing mistress of Monsieur Leon, the owner of the Monico. She has enjoyed her struggle to win him away from his wife, Madame Florence, and she is determined that he shall be her recompense for the tragedies and injustices life has so far offered her. Maud is a new stripper and her act of innocence makes her a star overnight and Celita at once realises that her hold over Leon is threatened. Such is Simenon's artistry that we come to admire and sympathise with Celita in her almost schoolgirl spitefulness and jealousy towards Maud. Celita and Madame Florence even become close but nothing prepares us for the violent and startling denouement to this tragic story.