Objectively, Odette Toulemonde has nothing to be happy about, but is. Balthazar Balsan has everything to be happy about, but isn’t. Odette, awkwardly forty, with a delightful hairdresser son and a daughter bogged down in adolescence, spends her days behind the cosmetic’s counter in a department store and her nights sewing feathers on costumes for Parisian variety shows. She dreams of thanking Balthazar Balsan, her favorite author, to whom – she believes – she owes her optimism. The rich and charming Parisian writer then turns up in her life in an unexpected way.

Standing on the edge of a rooftop, Gregory ponders the precariousness of life. He is 20 and feels like a stranger to himself. He wonders how he can live without dreams or desires. One day, he sees Liv, another college sophomore, and falls secretly and utterly in love with her. When he finally dares to declare his love, he finds himself up against a wall. Liv does not know him. Twenty-year-old Liv loses her virginity to Ilia, an older Russian army deserter. She experiences her first love and treasures every minute. But all too soon, Ilia's past creeps back into his life and unravels their union. One day, he leaves her without a word. She will have to live with the same intolerable loneliness that she unwittingly inflicted on Gregory.

Manuel passes 18 months at Buchenwald before his return to Paris. He wonders even before his arrival who will have the patience and passion to listen to his narrative. He chooses silence.