Valentin (Jeremy Irons) is an English jewel thief and master of disguise who has managed to pull off heists from the greatest gem shops of Europe using only two weapons: humorous bluff and charming deceit. And yet, Valentin's most secret, driving dream is to start a new life, and perhaps one day, to reimburse those from whom he has stolen. For now, however, the wearied Valentin desperately needs to escape. So, he sets sail on a luxury yacht from the French port city of Fecamp and heads for the solace of the deep blue sea.

Meanwhile, Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas) is a jazz chanteuse reeling from a bad love affair with a philandering trumpet player. She too sets sail, landing in Morocco, where she takes a gig singing in a grand Fez hotel, and looks for her own form of peace in the sand dunes and mysteries of the desert.

Their fates collide when Valentin's yacht (which is named "Ladies and Gentlemen") crashes off the coast of Morocco. Both he and Jane wind up in a medical office suffering from memory lapses - she has been forgetting lyrics; he can't remember merchandise he has stolen, or frequently, that he has stolen at all. But in each other, they find no need for recollections of the past. As they head for the tomb of a legendary Moroccan healer, rumored to be able to cury any malady, they start down the path of an adventurous, if indeterminate future.