A woman tries to straighten out her life, even as her past as a con-woman comes back to haunt her.
The thief Laurie Ash steals the expensive diamond jewel called 'Eye of the Serpent' in an audacious heist during an exhibition in Cannes 2001 Festival. She double-crosses her partners and is mistakenly taken as Lily, a woman who lost her husband and son in an accident and is missing since then, by an ordinary family. One day, while having bath in Lily's bathtub, Lily comes back home and commits suicide. Laurie assumes definitely Lily's identity, goes to America where she marries a rich man, who becomes the Ambassador of USA in France. When Laurie returns to France, her past haunts her.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
International con artist/thief Laure Ash helps pull off a diamond robbery in Cannes during the annual film festival. She double-crosses her partners-in-crime and makes off with the diamonds to Paris where she accidentally assumes the identity of a distraught woman who commits suicide and then leaves the country. Seven years later, Laure (now called Lily Watts) re-surfaces as the wife of the new American ambassador to France where a certain Nicolas Barto, a Spanish photographer, takes her picture thereby setting the stage for a motion of events as the evil Laure resorts to low, underhanded means to protect her former identity.—Matthew Patay
Mercenary thief Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn) is part of a team executing a diamond heist at the Cannes Film Festival. The diamonds are located on a gold ensemble worn by model Veronica (Rie Rasmussen), who is accompanying real-life director Régis Wargnier to the premiere of his film East/West. Laure seduces Veronica in order to obtain the diamonds, during which her accomplices "Black Tie" (Eriq Ebouaney) and Racine (Édouard Montoute) provide support. Laure tames Veronica inside the restrooms and while having sex, removes each piece of the ensemble, which is replaced with a fake by Black Tie.
However, the heist is botched (the security apparatus on the ensemble triggers an alarm when Laure removes it from Veronica's body) (The guard enters the restroom and is able to shoot Black Tie's arm before being killed by him) and Laure ends up double-crossing her accomplices (she stops Black Tie from killing Veronica) and escaping to Paris (When Racine cuts off the power supply and Laure escapes as she had night vision goggles) with the diamonds. In Paris, a series of events causes Laure to be mistaken for a missing Parisian woman named Lily who had recently disappeared. While Laure luxuriates in a tub in Lily's home, the real Lily returns and commits suicide while Laure secretly watches, providing Laure the opportunity to take her identity for good, and she leaves the country for the United States.
Seven years later, Laure (in her identity as "Lily") resurfaces in Paris as the wife of Bruce Watts, the new American ambassador to France (Peter Coyote). After arriving in France, a Spanish paparazzo named Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) takes her picture (the wife is elusive to photos and Bardo takes a pic of her by throwing himself in the path of the oncoming car). The picture is displayed around Paris, and Black Tie (who has coincidentally been released from prison seven years after being arrested for the heist) spots Bardo's photo while in the middle of killing a woman. This woman was seen talking earlier with Laure at a cafe, by throwing her into the path of a speeding truck.
With Laure exposed to her vengeful ex-accomplices, she decides to frame Bardo for her own (staged) kidnapping. Laure makes sure that she is seen by Bardo (when she has bruises all over he face, indicating that Bruce had physically assaulted her). Bardo follows her and sees her buying an illegal gun. Unknown to Bardo, he is being followed by Shiff (Gregg Henry).Bardo sees Laure entering a hotel room and gets in by saying that he stayed there last night and left his disk. He finds the gun and Laure reveals that she is having issues with her husband. Bardo reveals he is photographer who published her pic.
Bardo is further manipulated by Laure into following through with the "kidnapping" (Laure asks Bardo to get her some medicine, using her car. Bardo takes her gun. Laure then calls the police informing them of a armed gunman stealing the car, due to which Bardo is arrested & questioned by Inspector Serra (Thierry Frémont). Laure removes her bruises as that was just makeup). Serra suspects Bardo of kidnapping Laure, as she is missing. But Bruce confirms that Laure is fine as he spoke to her himself and that she was not in a hotel with Bardo alone, as he claimed. Bardo is released.Bardo returns home to find his apartment unlocked. His computer has been hacked and he has an email from Laure calling him for a meeting. Another email has been sent from his account to Bruce, as a ransom note for $ 10 MM in exchange for Laure.
Laure explains that she is a bad person, and she antagonized many people in her last caper. She went away to US to escape them and married Bruce. But then Bruce bought the French Ambassadorship by throwing money on his campaign and she got dragged back to France. Bardo took her pic and sold it to the tabloids, and now it's only a matter of time before the bad people find her and kill her. Laure needs $10 MM to start a new life.
Bardo and Laure begin a sexual relationship. The pair eventually meet with Bruce for a ransom exchange; however, Bardo has a crisis of conscience at the last moment and sabotages the scheme. In retaliation, Laure executes both Bruce and Bardo, only to be surprised by her ex-accomplices afterwards who promptly throw her off a bridge to her seeming death.
In an extended twist ending, the entirety of the film's events after Laure enters the tub in Lily's home are revealed to be a dream. Laure spies Lily entering the home as before, but this time stops her from committing suicide. Seven years later, Laure and Veronica, who is revealed to have been Laure's partner all along, chat about the success of their diamond caper. Black Tie and Racine arrive seeking revenge, but they are indirectly killed by the same truck that killed Veronica in Laure's dream. Bardo, witnessing all these events, introduces himself to Laure, swearing that he has met her before, with Laure replying, "Only in my dreams."
