Trama

Elliot heads for the sexual fantasy island, Eden. He takes some photos of diamond smugglers. They and undercover cops want the photos and follow him to Eden.

Elliot is going to the island of Eden to live out his submissive fantasies, but inadvertently photographs diamond smugglers at work. Smugglers, and detectives, follow him to the island, where they try to retrieve the film. Elliot begins falling in love with Lisa, the head mistress of the island, and Lisa must evaluate her feelings about Elliot and her own motivations.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>

Troubled by his own repressed sexuality, Elliot embarks on a trip to an island of libertinage and sexual release, not realising he has become the target for a criminal's vendetta. Two cops are close behind, and have to go deep undercover to discover what's going on amongst the submission and bondage - and Elliot's growing love for Mistress Lisa.—David Carroll <davidc@atom.ansto.gov.au>

Elliot Slater, a successful photojournalist in Los Angeles, has known since his boyhood that he enjoys being spanked. As an adult, his inhibitions about this desire have resulted in an equally unsuccessful love life. After he's stood up by his bride on their wedding day, he seeks to break this pattern by visiting "the island" owned by his friend Martin.

Elliot says if he's chosen for the island, he can make the trip after completing a one-month work assignment in South America. When he arrives back in Los Angeles on a pre-dawn flight, he phones Martin from the airport and is told he's been chosen. At baggage claim he witnesses a diamond smuggling operation involving a female (faux) flight attendant and a male (faux) baggage handler. He also snaps photos of both of them.

During the operation, an airport security officer talks to the attendant and Elliot. After the attendant leaves, Elliot casually tells the officer he may have witnessed a smuggling of some sort. He gives his business card in case the airport police want prints of his photos later.

The smugglers deliver the diamonds to a strip club, meeting their buyer's henchman in a back hallway. They watch through a metallic rope curtain as he returns to his employer, who's watching the club's sunrise special show. Suddenly a stripper yanks a gun from her boa and announces a police raid. The show host yanks out his badge on a neck chain from inside his shirt. They arrest the buyer and get the diamonds, but the smugglers escape.

The female smuggler confesses that her end of the airport operation hadn't gone smoothly, and Elliot took her partner's photo. Elliot had also given her his business card. At his home they see him get into a taxi with luggage including his camera bag. The man decides not to move in yet because they don't know if the film with the photo is still in Elliot's camera. While the woman searches the house, the man follows Elliot to the harbor and watches him board a ship anchored offshore.

LAPD Detectives Sheila Kingston and Fred Lavery, who were working undercover at the strip club, have been assisting the FBI and the US Customs Service with investigating a South American diamond smuggling operation. At the police station, flight attendant Susan from Elliot's flight identifies a woman in a mug shot as the faux flight attendant. Before her encounter with Elliot, the faux attendant had attacked Susan in an airport restroom after Susan recognized her as a (disguised) male passenger on the plane. The airport security officer also identifies the woman.

The buyer admits he bought the diamonds from Omar, an international jewel smuggler wanted by Interpol for murder as well as smuggling. The female smuggler is his partner Nina Blackstone, a hired henchwoman with violent tendencies. Over a 30-year career, Omar had scrupulously avoided being photographed -- until now. Fred suggests that Nina likely told Omar about Elliot's photo of him. If they can get to Elliot first, they can set a trap and nail Omar when he tries to recover the photo. Sheila and their superior, Lieutenant Malone, agree to Fred's proposal.

Malone has learned that Elliot's ship is bound for Eden, a BDSM island resort off the coast of Mexico owned by Dr. Martin Halifax. He arranges for Sheila and Fred to travel there undercover, and for Fred to meet with Halifax before their departure.

Elliot has the film roll containing Omar's photo in his camera bag aboard the ship. As the ship nears Eden, senior trainer Richard welcomes the travelers and explains the rules. They have been carefully selected to be submissives, or "citizens" in Eden parlance. During their one-week stay, their luggage will be stored for safekeeping and they must obey every command they're given. Reba, a repeat citizen, is clearly hot for Richard.

Omar and Nina have also learned Elliot's destination. They call in a favor from Nina's contact Priscilla, a dominatrix who gets several client referrals from Halifax. Omar threatens Priscilla at gunpoint to get him and Nina on the next guest list to Eden.

At Eden the new citizens are introduced to the guests/dominants in a lavish ceremony presided over by Mistress Lisa, the Headmistress of Eden. An initially hesitant Elliot suddenly throws off his inhibitions and makes a great first impression on the guests, but not on Mistress Lisa. To teach him humility, she assigns him to perform chores on work detail.

Citizens travel to Eden by boat, and guests by chartered plane. Sheila and Fred arrive on the latest flight, she as guest Lucy Smith and he as a newly hired maintenance worker. Omar and Nina are also on the flight as Mr. Tillington and Ms. Randi. Each guest is assigned a personal citizen as they disembark. Sheila is paired with Tommy, and Omar with Kitty.

Later that first day, Sheila looks for Omar while Omar looks for Elliot. Fred concludes that Ms. Randi is Nina and watches her in hopes she'll lead them to Omar. By day's end they've all come up empty because Elliot, being on work detail, is out of the guests' sights and away from the regular citizens.

Mistress Lisa and her personal citizen Diana review the profiles of the new citizens. Lisa decides to work with Elliot herself, and gets him to acknowledge his spanking desire. They spend some more time together, and to her surprise she is attracted to him.

The next day is Sports Day on the island, for which the citizens on work detail are released from duty to participate too. To find Elliot, Sheila requests him and he's brought to her room. When she just wants to talk, he gets antsy because he wants to enter the rollerblade race which is about to start. The winner will receive a private meeting with Mistress Lisa. Elliot admits he's spent some time with Lisa and is attracted to her, but hasn't told her because she keeps him at a distance. Sheila then says she's heard he's a photographer and asks if he can take some photos for her. He answers he can't because his camera's in storage and he doesn't know where it is. Nor has another guest requested him so far.

Elliot finally has to leave to make the race. Mistress Lisa arrives right after it starts, and watches him skate to victory. Omar tries to trap him by asking him to do a private performance with Kitty. Lisa witnesses the request and intervenes, politely lying to Omar that Eden doesn't allow voyeurism. Richard, who's also present, disapprovingly realizes that Lisa has fallen for Elliot and decides to assign him to a harsher guest.

Sheila requests Elliot a second time, but is told she'll have to wait because he's currently assigned to Ms. Randi/Nina. Sheila goes to Nina's room and extracts him from Nina's deadly clutches. Omar had been hiding in the room, and he tells Nina to stay put while he follows Sheila. Her voice sounds familiar to him.

Sheila starts to tell Elliot the truth, but is interrupted again when Diana appears and returns him to work detail on Mistress Lisa's orders. Sheila then asks Tommy how she can find out where Elliot is. After she clarifies she just needs to talk to Elliot, Tommy happily goes off to fetch him.

Deciding that falling for Elliot was a big mistake, Mistress Lisa has his luggage brought from storage to her room. As she goes through his things, the film canister containing Omar's photo slips out of his camera bag unnoticed. When Elliot arrives thinking he's meeting with Lisa after the rollerblade race, she instead apologizes for crossing the line from professional into personal. She hands him a refund check and orders him to leave Eden, saying Diana will ensure he gets home. Elliot refuses to give up on their attraction, and convinces Lisa to continue exploring it. Diana had told Elliot that Lisa loves the Deep South, and he suggests a spontaneous weekend trip to New Orleans.

Tommy, who delivered Elliot's luggage to Mistress Lisa, tells Sheila about it and that it means Elliot's leaving Eden. He then starts going all-out to pleasure Sheila, who stops him and orders him to stay in her room while she goes to see Lisa.

While giving Omar a massage, Kitty makes a chance remark which jogs his memory and he remembers Sheila from the strip club. He and Nina go to Sheila's room and learn from Tommy that Sheila went to see Mistress Lisa. Nina leaves to eliminate Sheila, while Omar goes after Elliot.

Citizen Reba tells Richard that she saw Elliot and Lisa leave Eden, and heard them talk about New Orleans. Omar overhears that conversation and calls a contact in The Big Easy.

In the office, Sheila tells Diana she's a cop and that Lisa could be in danger. While Diana goes to fetch Fred, Sheila starts searching for Omar in the guest records. Nina appears and attacks Sheila. Fred arrives and he and Sheila subdue Nina, who refuses to admit knowing Omar. They turn Nina over to the San Diego police, track Elliot and Lisa to New Orleans and head there themselves.

Elliot and Lisa are out and about enjoying the city, blissfully unaware they're being followed by Omar's contact and then Omar himself. They visit a historic mansion and slip away from the tour group to have fun in an off-limits upstairs bedroom. Omar finds them there and pulls a gun, and Elliot recognizes him from the Los Angeles airport. When Omar demands Elliot's camera and film, Elliot seemingly complies and then suddenly tackles him.

Sheila and Fred also track Elliot and Lisa to the mansion, and arrive to see Omar hurl Lisa through a door onto the bedroom balcony. Fred races into the mansion while Sheila clambers up the wisteria trellis. At the top she shoots and wounds Omar, but he's still able to attack her and disable her gun hand. As she clings desperately to the trellis with her other hand, Fred charges through the bedroom door and shoots Omar. The second shot sends Omar tumbling over the balcony rail to the lawn below.

At the police station, Lisa sits in the waiting area while Elliot gives a statement to the New Orleans police. She sees a man imploring his battered sister to get away from her violent partner, and a wife who endures her husband's abuse because all their assets are in his name only. A deeply shaken Lisa tells Elliot she wants to wait at the hotel while he gives a second statement to Sheila and Fred. She leaves a farewell note in their room and returns to Eden. Elliot later tells Sheila that Lisa left.

Sheila travels to Eden to pick up Omar's photo, which never left the island. She then urges Lisa not to give up on Elliot. Lisa is used to always being in control which ensures never becoming a victim, and says the women at the New Orleans police station became victims because they gave up control. Sheila replies that there are healthy relationships as well as bad ones, and while some men are creeps, Elliot is not. If they don't nurture the good ones, there won't be any.

Lisa returns to her room and finds a surprise visitor: Elliot, who asks her to marry him. He assures her that their relationship will be whatever the two of them decide they want it to be. She accepts his proposal.

Sheila checks in for the plane leaving Eden, and a man in a business suit sitting nearby sets aside his newspaper and greets her by her own name. It's Tommy. A surprised Sheila fumbles that he looks good in clothes, and she didn't recognize him without his thong and chains. Tommy is a corporate CEO who visits Eden a couple of times a year for fun and relaxation. One of his factories is in Los Angeles, and he asks Sheila if they can have dinner sometime. After a moment's hesitation, she answers yes.

Tommy kisses Sheila goodbye, then has to run to catch the boat leaving Eden. As Sheila goes to board the plane, she whoops in excitement at her new relationship and says in voiceover: "No matter what your sexual preference, love is the ultimate fantasy."