Taste, hearing, and smell dominate the lives of the characters in these witty, fantastical stories.

In "Under the Jaguar Sun" a couple tours Mexico to discover a startling combination of sublime and erotic love in the cuisine of fire-hot chiles and exotic spices.

In "A King Listens" the enthroned tyrant is prisoner not only of his power but also of his ear, as echoes in his huge palace carry contradictory messages of deliverance, love, and betrayal.

In "The Name, the Nose" a man of the world consults a fashionable parfumerie in search of a scent worn by a mysterious masked lady, while in London a drugged rock musician ruts like an animal in heat for the female whose odor lures him into crazed pursuit.