Celita is a stripper at the Monico, a nightclub in Cannes, as well as the long-standing mistress of Monsieur Leon, the nightclub's owner. She enjoyed her struggle to win him away from his wife, Madame Florence, but when a new stripper named Maud becomes a star overnight, Celita at once realises that her hold over Leon is threatened. In this artistically-told story from the master of the genre, nothing can prepare us for its violent and startlingly tragic end.