It's a long hot summer for sixteen-year-old Charlie Boyd. He just found out his mother is having an affair with his father's best friend, but is distracted from his problems by the mysterious woman down the street who has visitors day and night. After a sudden family tragedy Charlie is overwrought with pain. At first feeling hopeless, Charlie soon finds solace in Maggie, the beautiful French stranger, a dominatrix who teaches him the seductively beautiful side of pain, and how it can heal his emotional wounds. What starts as a perverse game quickly turns into a taboo love affair. And as Charlie learns to control his pain, he turns that control back onto his mistress.