Charles drifts through politics, religion and psychoanalysis, rejecting them all. Once he realises the depth of his disgust with the moral and physical decline of the society he lives in, he decides that suicide is the only option...

Jean-Baptiste, a filmmaker, and Elie, an actress, fall in love. To fight their unhappiness, they cling to their children: Jean-Baptiste to his film and Elie to her young son.

A tall and gangly Victoire arrives in Paris looking for the ideal French lover -- and because she stands well above many of her preceding romantic partners, that is an added dimension to consider. As she finds and drops a series of possibilities -- a free-wheeling sociologist, an up-tight intellectual, and a dentist fixated on sports -- she begins to wonder if this simple quest may turn out to be an impossibility after all.