Paris 1890. Lady's maid Denise le Louarn fears the worst when her mistress, Odette de Valois, vanishes from the Père-Lachaise cemetery during a visit to her husband's grave. All alone in the great metropolis, Denise knows just one person she can go to for help: Odette's former lover, Victor Legris.

When the frightened girl turns up at his bookshop and tells him her story, Victor feels there must be a simple explanation for her disappearance. But as he begins to look into the matter, it soon becomes clear that something sinister lies behind events at the Père-Lachaise cemetery.