In the summer of 1933, Louise Nevelson is an aspiring Jewish artist who has recently left her marriage. Interested in pursuing her art, she boards a ship across the Atlantic, hoping to study under Hans Hofmann, a prominent artist of the time. While aboard the ship, she meets a French doctor and novelist, Louis Ferdinand Destouches, who Louise refers to by his pen name Celine. After showing some interest in her, Celine gives Louise two signed copies of his latest novel, though Louise cannot understand any of it because it is in French. Louise and Celine spend several days together on the ship, where Celine talks a lot about his personal philosophy on the degradation of society. During one of their conversations, Louise discovers that he is very anti-Semitic, and she leaves when he tries to kiss her. Once in Europe, Louise discovers that Hofmann, as well as a number of other Jewish people she knows, have fled to the United States on account of Hitler's accumulation of power in Germany. When she returns to New York at the end of the summer, she begins studying under Hofmann and working on her art. Additionally, she receives a letter from Celine, who still wishes for a relationship with her. This begins an extended correspondence that culminates when Celine visits Louise in New York and proposes to her, which she refuses. Following World War II, she learns that Celine was a spy for the Nazis.