Set in French-dominated Indochina, this book is a summary of the memories of a young girl, based on Marguerite Duras herself. The girl, Marguerite, develops a sexual relationship with a Chinese man, referred to only as the man from Chinon. This book is a commentary on the racism of the period in French Indochina, but it is also a commentary on love in the modern era, despite taking place in the colonial period.Marguerite's experiences, beginning this sexual relationship, lustful in nature and not based on true love, presents "love" as an object of desire. It is a story of childhood development but also of the pressures of rising adulthood. Marguerite is shaped by this experience, as her memories dictated at a later point reveal, transforming how the man from Chinon is presented as well as how she relates with her family. This book is cold and tragic, yet it is a coherent, believable case study of love in the modern era.