When a womanizing bookshop owner hears about the suicide of a former girlfriend, he tries to find out more and meets her friend, a prostitute. They hook up, but when she finds her friend's diary, she discovers she's repeating her mistakes.

A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.