Pomme is a meek and mild French beautician whose life takes a fateful turn during a vacation to Normandy. She becomes the lover of middle-class literature-student François. The relationship sours when François takes her home to meet his parents, thanks in no small part to their differing social backgrounds.

A Salvation Army lieutenant and an accordion player fall in love, only to be repeatedly separated by circumstance. Reuniting in Marseille, they build a life and have a child, but fate continues to intervene as their relationship unfolds through cycles of separation and reunion.