David Kepesh, an adventurous man of intelligence and feeling, tries to make his way to both pleasure and dignity through a world of sensual possibilities. Temptation comes to him in both its ordinary and spectacular forms, and the novel charts the history of his desire from the early years, when he is acceded to it totally, to the time when he attempts to domesticate his passions (and his wife's) and finally to that most surprising moment when desire ebbs and, frighteningly, seems on the brink of disappearance. The book explores in all its painful ramifications, the pursuit and loss of erotic happiness.