The chain and the leather belt still adorned her, although in different configurations, no longer binds but an integral part of her body, jewels of passion, branches of transgression that she had earned by her wanton abandon.

Nursing the end of her dancing career and first love, Giselle Denoux returns home to Paris with a broken heart to face her disapproving family. At a flower shop in the Latin Quarter, she meets a magnetic artist named William Tremblay. Desperate to know more about him, Giselle signs on as one of his models—an act that binds them together, turning Giselle into both muse and master.

When a horrifying accident forces them apart, Giselle jumps at the chance to work for a decadent affair known as the Ball, an event of sexual excess and delirium—one she's sure will heal her pain. At the Ball, Giselle moves up from dancer to madame, finessing her craft until an explosive moment many years later takes both her and William completely by surprise.