A lost cat, a giant talkative frog and a tsunami help a bank employee without ambition, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant to save Tokyo from an earthquake and find a meaning to their lives.

Julien is 10 years old. He pretends to go to school but then hides out under a bridge, his backpack filled with clothes. A few kilometers away, 15-year-old Joséphine does the same and waits for the bus.

Two sisters meet up late one summer to clear out the house of their deceased grandparents.

Miriam and Antoine have recently separated. While she’s willing to permit their 17-year-old daughter Josephine to decide living arrangements for herself, Miriam is desperate to keep her youngest, 11-year-old Julien, away from his father. But the magistrate rules in favour of joint custody, and suddenly the boy is thrown directly into the middle of an escalating parental conflict, where it seems inevitable that sides must be chosen.

The day barely rises when Gregor is snatched from his sleep by the police drumming at his door. They need to use his balcony to access his neighbor's apartment, which no one has heard from for nearly two years. The discovery of the putrefying corpse will haunt Gregor for a whole day, a day that will prove decisive for the rest of his life. When night falls, backtracking will no longer be possible.

Arnaud Mustier, lawyer and brilliant philosopher, arouses the annoyance of his younger brother Jules, age sixteen. One day, Arnaud is a victim of a late adolescent crisis. Helped by Jules, he is going to catch up this phase of the life which he did not live.