Tom Lynch is a libidinous, non-achieving art historian in disgrace for his sexual misdemeanours. There seems only one means of redemption - the opportunity to prove his life-long theory of the existence of an uncatalogued Madonna by the great master, Bellini. There follows a month in the dilapidated country pile of Malle, where the owners seem intent on keeping Lynch prisoner, as they know they have the picture, but they don't know where it is, while Lynch is both weakened by love and alcohol and accepts his captivity even though it will lead to his death