A married couple is terrorized by a series of videotapes planted on their front porch.

Ninon is a spirited hotel-manager who teaches self-defense classes to her terrified eldery neighbors. Daiga, an aspiring Lithuanian actress newly arrived to Paris, becomes fascinated with the life of a mysteriously beautiful drag performer.

A medical intern finds himself drawn into a world of international intrigue after discovering a shrunken human head in his luggage.

On a stormy night, off the coast of the Arcachon basin, a small sailboat named "Julie" disappears with a young girl of the same name on board. What really happened? The mystery is all the thicker because a month later, her husband met the same sad end. A year later, on the anniversary of Julie's disappearance, a commemorative meal is organized by the young woman's main relations. Many things from the past will then resurface.

In this whimsical fable, Resnais deftly interweaves three story lines: the creation of an early-20th-century utopia; romantic high jinks at a school conference; and a fantasy sparked by F/X pioneer Georges Méliès.