Russel Harwick, the son of a wealthy American business executive, has been an alcoholic since he was 14 and a drug addict since he was 19. At 27 he is in the final stages of heroin addiction, when his father's death shocks him into wanting to be cured. He arrives in Paris for a sleep cure and is driven to a rest home on the outskirts of the city. During Russel's withdrawal period presided over by Doctor Benoit, he frequently has fantasies and nightmarish visions. He imagines himself under the wing of an Indian guru, floating through space with an ethereal and loving woman, and fighting off the persistent lures of his friends--especially Opium Jones, a sinister pusher. Russel is eventually cured and released from the clinic. As he leaves in a helicopter, he turns to look back, only to see himself on a balcony of the chateau that has been his hospital-clinic.