Denis' assured debut, influenced by her own childhood in Colonial Africa, sets up many of the themes (exclusion, betrayal and identity) she explores in her later work. Through the eyes of a young girl we see her bored, lonely mother Aimée grow increasingly hostile towards her travelling husband. Mother and daughter find solace in Protée, the dignified, intelligent house servant - but Aimée and Protée's mutual forbidden sexual attraction causes agonising tension in the household. Clashes of race and class come to the fore in a quietly devastating explosion of desire, resentment and racism.