Plot

In a dystopic world where a plague is killing off pubescent human females, an esoteric researcher seeks his missing mentor while trying to retain morality in the sex-obsessed society he lives in.

Tripod, sometime director of a dermatological clinic called the House of Skin, is searching for his mentor, the mad dermatologist Antoine Rouge. Rouge has disappeared following a catastrophic plague resulting from cosmetic products, which has killed the entire population of sexually mature women. Tripod joins a succession of organisations and meets various men trying to adjust to a defeminised world. Sensing the presence of Antoine Rouge, Tripod comes upon a strange group.—Michael Lauzon

In a strange reality ravaged by Rouge's Malady--a devastating infection unleashed by the twisted genius of the deranged dermatologist Antoine Rouge--every sexually mature woman has vanished off the face of the earth. As a result, Dr Adrian Tripod, once the director of the House of Skin clinic, embarks on a desperate mission to find a cure. But first, he must track down his elusive mentor. Instead, as he delves deeper and deeper into a surreal odyssey, Tripod discovers a bizarre defeminised society, where rituals replace rational thought. After all, nothing is the same in this increasingly unhinged masculine realm--the unsettling transformations in human behaviour invite perverse ideas, turning science into a form of twisted religion.—Nick Riganas