The novel begins with our protagonist Evelyn describing his last encounter with a woman in England, before he moved to the United States to take up an English Professor post at a New York University. He reminisces about his infatuation with the American movie star, Tristessa de St Ange, recalling how he receives oral pleasure from a date that he takes to see one of her movies.
Once in New York, he discovers the dystopian environment of a city overrun by vermin, emotional death and political rebellion. His new teaching post is taken away as the school he was supposed to be starting at is taken over by a black militant rebel group. He witnesses the violence caused by race divisions and sexism, often comparing these protestors to violent animals. Left jobless in New York, he becomes friends with his neighbor, Baroslav, an alchemist from the Czech Republic. However, the city soon takes Baroslav as he is beaten to death by a group of men, leaving Evelyn completely alone.
One night, Evelyn visits a late night drug store and comes across Leilah, a beautiful African American exotic dancer who drives his sexual fantasies. Evelyn then proceeds to follow her home through the city, Leilah teasingly stripping herself of clothes on the way. The pair have sex and this marks the beginning of a turbulent sexual relationship in which Evelyn abuses Leilah both emotionally and physically. Evelyn receives a letter from his parents saying how he has received a large sum of money from a recently deceased relative, and at the same time Leilah announces she is pregnant with Evelyn’s baby. With no emotional feelings for Leilah, he sends her away to get an abortion from a Voodoo abortionist in the city.
The process goes wrong and Leilah is left in hospital, needing a large payment for her medical bills. Evelyn only pays a small amount, despite being able to afford the complete sum. However, as he is withdrawing his money, he is beaten by a group of young men who take the money. Fortunately for Evelyn, they do not find the cash he had taped to his genitals so with this money, he sends Leilah flowers, rents a car and leaves New York behind, heading straight for the desert.
Retreating into the desert, Evelyn encounters a woman who forcefully drags him to the city of Beulah. Beulah appears to be a female haven where he meets the character of Mother, a goddess who fashioned herself with a surgeon’s knife. Mother operates on Evelyn, removing his genitalia and implanting a fully functional vagina and ovaries, and then proceeds to impregnate him with his own sperm which she previously harvested. Evelyn, now called Eve, escapes the clutches of Mother, but is then captured by the leader of a male cult, Zero. Zero only has one eye and one leg and forces Eve to become one of his female slave-like wives. Treating the members of the cult as pigs, they are forced to grunt and squeal as such, treated as inferior to the actual pigs beloved by Zero.
Zero leads Eve on a journey to find movie star, Tristessa, as he believes she has made him infertile. The cult, led by Zero, discover Tristessa’s spinning glass palace and find her laid out surrounded by wax works of dead Hollywood stars. Tristessa flees from Zero who eventually corners her and cuts her thong, unveiling her true identity as a man. Zero then creates a fake wedding ceremony and orders Tristessa to rape Eve. The pair manage to escape and kill Zero and his wives by spinning them to their death in the spinning glass palace.
Eve and Tristessa escape to the desert where they embrace their sexualities and fall in love with each other. However, they are then approached by a gang of young mafia boys who shoot Tristessa and ‘save’ Eve. She manages to escape the gang and then encounters Lilith who is actually Leilah posing as the new rebellion gang leader. Lilith takes Eve to the coast to be reunited with Mother and here they witness an old lady who acts as a metaphor of aging superficially with her fake hair, heavy make-up and bad hygiene. Eve comes to the realization that Leilah was a manifestation of Evelyn’s corruption and lust.
Led by Lilith, Eve is pushed through a gap in the rocks which then transforms into the uterus of time. Eve experiences a rebirth in which she is metaphorically reborn and discards all the chauvinistic characters of Evelyn. The novel ends with Eve saying goodbye to Lilith as she leaves to continue fight with the rebels. Eve takes the rowing boat of the old woman and sails away.
