In a cafe in Morocco called Tout Va Bien, a man meets with a “connection,” a fifteen-year-old street boy named Abdullah. Abdullah asks the man what he wants from him, and the man says he only wants whatever Abdullah will readily volunteer. The man is a writer looking for information about the police in Morocco. Abdullah asks the man if he is interested in Abdullah’s “genius” — the Tangier police believe he has some sort of genius. The man thinks to himself that he must not push the boy and offers him more tea. Abdullah reveals that the police want him to become a woman, and the man is confused. Abdullah says he will show the man tonight at the Dancing Boy.  A man named Albert Decker suddenly joins their table and asks Abdullah how he is and whether Albert can read him some poetry. He asks multiple times, and Abdullah refuses. Abdullah asks the man (the protagonist) if he will be free tonight, and he responds that he is not free tonight, but soon. At his hotel, the man speaks with his wife Martha, who is trying to draw people she sees through the window. The man mentions Abdullah, who a friend recommended he speak to, and says he wants to figure out what the boy’s genius is. The man then decides to visit a city called Fez, but when he gets to the train station, he sees Abdullah waiting for him. The man says he can’t afford to bring Abdullah with him, and Abdullah talks about wanting to go to America but it is impossible because he doesn’t have the money. He says that if he doesn’t figure out how to make enough money to leave, he will end up at the Dancing Boy. Abdullah says when the man returns from his trip to Fez, he will take him to the Dancing Boy. On a later night, they meet at Tout Va Bien again, and Abdullah says he must show the man his fate at the Dancing Boy. Albert appears again suddenly and joins. On the way to the Dancing Boy, the man thinks to himself that all the streets they take would not appear on a map, and upon arriving, he finds the music both religious and obscene, a cloud of hashish in the air. Through the cloud, they see the dancing boy on stage, a boy dressed like a girl. Albert asks why Abdullah is afraid of this, and Abdullah responds that he is a man and the dancing boy is a woman. Days later, Martha tells the man that they should see Abdullah’s opening show at the Dancing Boy, and the man says Abdullah wouldn’t want them to see him. He does, however, see Abdullah again and finds himself unable to cope with the news that Abdullah has died due to drugs.