Set in 1997, the film follows Adrian Tripod, an occasional director of the House of Skin, a
dermatological clinic. He embarks on a quest to find his mentor, the insane dermatologist Antoine Rouge. Rouge has vanished after a devastating plague, caused by cosmetic products, wiped out all sexually mature women. Allegedly the virus mutated, now affecting men and claiming Rouge's life. Tripod joins a succession of organisations, including Metaphysical Import-Export and the Oceanic Podiatry Group, and meets various individuals and groups of men trying to adjust themselves to a defeminized world. When a House of Skin patient that Tripod had grown close to dies from the plague, Tripod checks into a mental health clinic and engages in
foot fetishism. Tripod aligns with a group of
pedophiles who kidnap a five-year-old girl who has been exposed to chemicals intended to force her into puberty in order to impregnate her. However, one of the group is ultimately unable to bring himself to rape the young girl and leaves her untouched. Tripod enters the room where the girl is kept and sees the girl emit a cream-like white foam from her mouth. This brings him to the realization that, by artificially inducing puberty in the young child, she has become infected with the plague. ==Cast==