Le Plaisir takes three of de Maupassant's stories as its source: in Le Masque, a masked dandy conceals a secret; in La Maison Tellier, the girls of a small-town brothel are taken on an outing to attend the communion of the madam's niece; and in La Mod�le, a painter falls in love with his model, but the course of love isn't as smooth as either expected.