Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling she eats little she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane a stranger to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order Stephane fails to cheer Solange. She knits. She does housework. Everyone including their neighbor a vegetable vendor agrees that she needs a child yet she fails to get pregnant by either lover. The three take a job running a kids' summer camp where they meet Christian the precocious 13-year-old son of the local factory manager. It is Christian who restores Solange to laughter