American Raphael talks his colleague at the Parisian University into spending his summer at the family's country mansion. But once there Raphael seduces and plays the sisters and mother against each other - until everyone is revealed at their very worst. As it turns out - that was Raphael's intention all along - because his own torrid past is deeply rooted in their family's dirty history.

The emotional interplay between an arguing couple, in love but not happy with their relationship, is meant to be the sustaining force in this crime drama with little other action. Thomas (Christophe Malavoy) has been blackmailed into carrying a shipment of explosives in his Peugeot to Egypt, where the devices will be forwarded to guerrillas on Cyprus. He brings his lover Veronique (Victoria Abril) along for the dangerous ride from Switzerland to the south, knowing the explosives can be easily detonated by accident and enemy agents as well as government agents are out to capture him. Both protagonists have a short fuse themselves, and as they separate and then come back together, their final destination looms ever closer in more ways than one.