在具有异国情调的伊斯坦布尔,一位法国教授在寻觅一个神秘的女人,但从各个方面得到的都是否定和不确切的答复。同时,就像这个女人的存在一样,伊斯坦布尔也充满了各种假的事物,从清真寺到旅游纪念品,所有的东西都是虚假的,而且,演员的表演也被指责为“不自然”。罗伯-格里耶正是通过这种虚假对现实进行反思。A sad man meets a beautiful, secretive woman who may or may not be involved in some conspiracy ring dealing in kidnapped women used as prostitutes. After several days of their sadly passionate relationship she disappears. The sad man is unable to locate her as all the local Turkish people pretend not to remember any such woman. He suddenly finds her again (she finds him?) and before she can explain her disappearance she is killed in a car crash while he is in the passenger seat. He replays the accident over and over in his mind trying to remember how she died if he caused the accident himself by grabbing the wheel.