Objectively Odette Toulemonde has nothing to be happy about but is. Balthazar Balsan has everything to be happy about but isn't. Odette awkwardly forty with a delightful hairdresser son and a daughter bogged down in adolescence spends her days behind the cosmetic's counter in a department store and her nights sewing feathers on costumes for Parisian variety shows. She dreams of thanking Balthazar Balsan her favorite author to whom - she believes - she owes her optimism. The rich and charming Parisian writer then turns up in her life in an unexpected way.