In the Flesh explores through poetic imagery the sexual encounters of a woman's life as they flicker through her memories, back and forth in time from the first awakenings of puberty to the full-blown pleasures of her maturity. Hovering on the border between dream and reality, the narrator lingers over memories of early explorations with her brother, a schoolteacher, and friends, both male and female. The vibrant happiness of these memories contrasts with later darker thoughts, as the narrator concentrates on her secret relationship with her father. The atmosphere becomes volatile and dreamlike, the sexes interchanging in passionate confusion, blurring the line between memory and imagination. Unashamedly frank and lyrically surreal, In the Flesh stands as an artistic landmark of sensual expression.