Severin von Kusiemski's infatuation with a woman named Wanda von Dunajew knows no bounds. So much so that he asks to be her slave and pleads for her to treat him in progressively more degrading ways. Initially, Wanda does not understand or accede to the request, but after relenting begrudgingly to Severin she finds the advantages of the method interesting and enthusiastically embraces the idea, although at the same time she disdains Severin for allowing her to do so.

The updated version of this seminal 1870 text on love, lust, sexuality, and the lengths to which someone will travel to feel the uttermost extremes of experience. The classic foundation for BDSM, and the very namesake for Masochism, with this masterpiece von Sacher-Masoch changed the face, and very definition, of human sexuality forever.