A suburban train screeches deafeningly to a halt. At first we see only the black shoes of the young Averill as he steps down from the train on to the platform. In a quiet part of town, where the only sound to be heard on the streets is the echoing of footsteps, he checks into a hotel.
The following day, wandering the streets, he goes into a bar, Everything he encounters seems bizarre to him. He sees a woman looking in his direction, but, just a few moments later, she has disappeared. Days pass and he does not see her again. Chance leads to a renewed encounter. Averill enters a high, dark apartment block, goes up the third floor and enters a large, empty apartment. A wide grilled door falls shut behind him. On the other side of the room there is a figure. The woman is mozionless, her look provocative, derisive. Averill's cigarette falls to the floor, and he stamps on it. The woman continues to watch hoim. Their relationship is characterized by timid emotion and sexual greed; it is love both unrestrained and forbidden.