In 1882, young Lou Andreas-Salomé, writer, future psychoanalyst and femme fatale, poses with Friedrich Nietzsche and Paul Re for an unusual photograph. More than thirty years later, an art student from Vienna gives Frau Lu his drawing-interpretation of the photograph, which became notorious. These days, the photo is being repeated by a professional dominatrix known as Chantal Desforges. When Chantal's body is found in the trunk of a stolen car at the Oakland, California airport, Tess Berenson, a brilliant actress who has moved into an Art Deco loft, becomes involved in the case. which previously served as the mistress’s home and workplace. Tess’s interest in Chantal’s personality intensifies: she finds clues to the solution to the murder and more and more connections between her life and the life of the mistress.