When Philip meets Mildred, a disarming tea-shop waitress, he finds his yearning for art and experience consumed by his intense attraction to her. Mildred, for all her teasing, isn't all that interested in Philip, but rather in flattery, possessions, and security. Yet Philip, in a powerful haze of passion and pride, obsessively pursues Mildred despite the anguish and emotional carnage that repels and binds them at all costs. Of Human Bondage is a grand story of lust, unrequited love, and the pursuit of beauty.