It's a winter of snow of mythic proportions. Caught in Kierkegaard's aesthetic stage, Philip Fellows is meanwhile happy to be immured inside with his lover-free to dodge undesirable work-as he seeks continual sensual pleasure. All the while he is being tracked by a mysterious man in black, who eventually informs him he's in despair. If Philip isn't ready for Kierkegaard's second stage, the ethical, he nonetheless becomes captivated by the beauty of a woman who is given to ramping up an ultra-rational, principled approach to the sexual.