Two People 1973

Deirdre McCluskey is a Manhattan-based fashion model who has completed a Vogue assignment in Marrakesh with photographer Ron Kesselman, who is also her lover, and editor Barbara Newman. Ron has announced plans to explore the Sahara Desert rather than returning home to his son Marcus McCluskey, born from his liaison with Deirdre, leaving them to travel to Casablanca by train without him.

Deirdre, aware that her feelings for Ron have cooled, recognizes fellow passenger Evan Bonner from a café she visited the day before. She approaches his compartment to ask if he has any kief he’d be willing to share with her. Seeing him alone and in tears, she returns to Barbara.

When the train breaks down, Evan and Deirdre explore a nearby Arab village while they wait for it to be repaired. Deirdre is drawn to Evan, but he withdraws from her advances. On board a flight from Casablanca to Paris, he confesses that he deserted in Vietnam, was brought to Moscow by a pro-peace group, and has lived in Sweden and Morocco; weary of his nomad life, he decides to surrender and face a court martial and a prison term.

Deirdre spends a day and night with Evan in Paris before they return to the United States. The next morning, she suggests they remain in Europe, supported by her salary, but he declines. They fly to New York City, where the two are welcomed at Deirdre’s townhouse by her mother and her son, Mrs. McCluskey and Marcus McCluskey. Deirdre repeats her offer, but Evan is determined to leave his past behind and later that day he surrenders to the authorities.