It is 1911, and a respected Professor is invited to a gathering at a friend's home in order to witness the "gift" of a young woman visiting from the Caribbean. The prospect does not sit well with him, but he agrees to go after being informed that his fiancé will also attend to see this latest superstar and practitioner of mesmerism. Made cynical by his insistence upon empirical evidence and a disbelief in mystical and magical beliefs, he accepts the challenge of the young island woman and allows her to attempt putting him under her mesmeric spell – a decision he will regret until his dying day, as his privileged life is dismantled in the most ignominious of ways..."At one time, she had even removed her clothing and turned her back upon me as I knelt on a Persian rug with the foot of the mistress resting nonchalantly upon my shoulder. I would not have believed such musculature possible on a member of the female sex and despite my revulsion could only stare with awe at the arrangement of cloth separating her muscular buttocks as she posed above me."