JoyfulLeon is a man unburdened by sexual desire. Nonetheless, he adores his wife, only partly for the way she wears his collection of haute couture. When she becomes ill and dies, he is shattered. Then he discovers her correspondence with an unknown lover, and his suffering veers towards madness. Leon hunkers down at his neglected country property, Joyful, with the entire local supply of whiskey and a bizarre plan to retrieve (posthumously) Tess's devotion.