Clarisse (nicknamed "Venus" for a good reason)learns she 'll become blind in a year or two .Although she's pregnant by her lover Madère ,she pretends she has cheated on him and he leaves her.Madère owns a boat "Le Tapageur" (the noisy one).Clarisse"s friends try to bring eyesight to the blind and they take her to an imaginary voyage on the "Tapageur" .Her crippled sister describes for her the "landscapes" of the countries they "visit".