Shortly before departing for the Great War, Lusignan has an encounter with a fellow officer: the suave, self-possessed d'Argentuil. He returns from the war a broken man, kept alive by a plan to reconnect with d'Argentuil by shadowing his old flame, Amalia. Helping him is Concorde, another of d'Argentuil’s hookups, and a Capuchin monk who longs for martyrdom.