Ellen, played by Charlotte Rampling, is a professor of French literature at Wellesley College in Boston, Brenda, a stay-at-home wife from Savannah, Georgia; and Sue, a factory worker from Quebec, Canada, feel lonely and ignored by middle-aged men back at home. They travel to Haiti to enjoy a holiday of sun, surf, and sex with attractive local teenagers to whom they are financially generous. Ellen and Brenda vie for the attention of Legba and it is only after his tragic death that their eyes are finally opened to the callousness of their hedonistic actions, the suffering of the Haitian people and the political climate.