Irénée has no desire to work in his uncle's grocery shop and dreams of becoming an actor. His opportunity comes when a crew of movie makers came to his little village. Irénée begins to go over the top in order to be noticed, which earns him the traditional joke reserved to a "Schpountz" (naive person): a phoney contract and a departure for Paris.

Perhaps you have to love dogs in order to sell tins of slimy mystery meat to their owners. At any rate Martin, who is indifferent to pets in general, isn't doing all too well in his marketing job at Floppy Dog Foods. But right now this is the least of his problems: he has made a British au-pair pregnant in a one night stand; and while he is trying to figure out how to deal with this, his ex-wife (who divorced him over his not wanting children) and his mother (a militant anti-overpopulation, pro-birth control, pro-abortion activist) have a few comments to offer on the situation. Before his own child is born, Martin clearly has some growing up of his own to do.

Charlotte Castang is a working-class 13-year-old girl, who lives in a drab, run-down neighbourhood, and is ready to become an adult. Her mother died giving birth to her, and she lives with her crass brother and a father whose attention is elsewhere. Her only friend is Lulu, a sick 10-year-old she regards as a pest. Charlotte is antisocial, bored and dreams of a better life. Her life improves when she meets Clara Bauman, a pianist prodigy.

Paris, seventies. In a hotel in the glittering Rue de Rivoli an English boy falls in love with the two young grandchildren of the owner. Based on the novel "La Mandarine" by Christine de Rivoyre.