It is the summer of 1933. Set against a backdrop of of the sparkling Venetian lagoon, young and naive Irma Lietzen, the pretty and indulged daughter of a Budapest businessman, is being taken to see the world by her parents. They stop for several weeks in Venice, where Aurelian, a young man once employed as Mr Lietzen's secretary, is given the job of showing Irma the sights. Irma has plans for what this might involve but Aurelian, it seems, has other ideas.