When you’re teaching at a Parisian university like Serge (Patrick Dewaere), the south seems a long way off. And for someone like Carol (Clio Goldsmith), who just wants to get away from it all, the south is an indeterminate location, but she intends to get there, whatever it takes.

At the station, Serge feels someone’s eyes on him. He turns and sees Carol: beautiful, blue-eyed, young, carefree… That face, he knows instinctively, stands for immaturity and escape, in short everything academic has taught him to forget.

Three days later in Barcelona: days full of wild passion with Carol. Serge is wiped out and penniless. Carol, it seems is quite demanding…
And who is Max (Guy Marchand) who has all the trappings of a pimp and claims he’s Carol’s half brother? And why does gentle and seductive Helene (Jeanne Moreau), pretend to be Carol’s mother?

Suddenly enmeshed in the strangest of adventures, Serge does not dare ask questions, being too afraid of the answers. He has always been in control and a paradigm of erudition. She is easy-going and barely literate. Their meeting leads to his downfall. His only chance of recovery is to allow himself to be reborn, this time acceding imagination and escapism to impregnate his life.