A disciple of Mesmer is put in charge of curing the hypochondria of a poor South American abandoned in a Paris hospital in the spring of 1938. It seems as though nothing bad could possibly happen, until the hypnotist Pierre Pain becomes embroiled in intrigue which plans ritual assassination of planetary proportions. Only Pierre Pain realizes what is going on behind the scenes, but he is no hero, he is an ordinary man and the least inclined to embark on an adventure of life and death where love, solitude, and the value of the human being is put at risk.