Olivier, the nine-year-old son of Elisabeth and Serge, a country veterinarian, vanishes one afternoon on the way to his grandmother's house. The emotional aftermath of his disappearance sends his father packing and nearly destroys his mother.
During the war in 1941, Antoine, 9, lived with his grandparents in Gironde. His mother prefers to keep him away in the free zone, with his cousins, where he discovers a more rigorous world.
A diverse group of guests gather in a small hotel in Paris to contemplate the state of their lives in this pretentious drama. Joseph Goldman (Fernando Rey) is a washed-up Hollywood actor making a living in the dinner-theater circuit. Accompanied by his wife Sarah (Carole Regnier), Goldman meets Frederique (Berangere Bonvoisin), who is hiding from her former lover. French financier Arthur (Fabrice Luchini) hopes to get into the film industry and bends the ear of a British director (Michael Medwin). The talkative film has little action, and none of the characters evoke much interest or resolve their dilemma.
Nina, young girl from the provinces discovering the capital, meets people by chance, and carries out apprenticeship of the theatre and love. Paulot first of all, reassuring figure of an ordinary man, solid as a rock. Then Quentin, a fallen actor tormented by a past drama, violent as lightning. Finally, Scrutzler, an inflexible and exhausted director who chooses Nina, throws her on the stage. A revelation is born through these three meetings. But, it is with herself that Nina has an appointment.
