An intimate look into the life and work of Nelly Arcan, as well as a reflection on the opposing forces brought to bear on female identity.

Nelly Arcan: the author of Putain [Whore], that blunt and bestseilling autofictional novel; a blonde beauty mocked for her Quebecois accent by French TV host Thierry Ardisson; the "crazy lady" who hung herself at age 36. For Johanne Rigoulot, who developed her ideas of femininity in the porno-chic-tinged '90s, Arcan was far more than all of this. She was the traveling companion who most powerfully interrogated the schism between a need for freedom and the imperative drive to please. Rigoulot sets out in search of her elusive icon, reviving her ideas, and in the end, delivering a resurrecting jolt to the legazy of a blazing, visionary writer.