Five people are recruited by the Viking Society to collaborate on the first manned mission to Mars. They were chosen because of the psychological similarities they share with the five astronauts who will travel to the red planet. These volunteers therefore form a B-team of alter egos who will experience the adventure in parallel, behind closed doors on Earth.

In a countryside house where they are meant to explore the troubles in their sexuality, three women spend days and nights apprehending their inner demons. A serene German therapist and a kind-hearted social worker supervise them, help them and try to maintain the fragile balance of the group. During 26 days, in the midst of summer, Geisha, Léonie and Eugénie will have to refrain from breaking down, tame the whispers from present times and consider the future.

In an ethereal, high-ceilinged room, women stand, waiting. Perhaps it's Purgatory and they're dead. In the room, two young women, one an actress and the other a psychologist, watch the last few days of their lives on a TV screen. Both are having affairs with married men, each has a long encounter with her lover's wife, and both these scenes take place in a ladies' room, one backstage at a play that's about to preview, the other at an opera house during the first act. The relationships between each pair of younger and older women take surprising turns, and in the room with the TV, a sylph asks probing and challenging questions of the two young women as they watch.

Once a successful dancer, Miriam has abandoned her career to bring up her son, Serge, after her boyfriend walked out of her.

One day Jean-Baptiste Beauregard (Pierre Curzi) does not go out to face work or daily activities, instead he daydreams about the women in his past, about his teenage years, his failed marriage, and even his boyhood desires. His mental images follow each other across the screen, revealing that the women in his life are all the same (different wigs and costumes on the same actress), and his love life never changes either. This sameness can have a dulling effect on the viewers, indicating that if Jean-Baptiste's reminiscences were trimmed and his daydreams more varied and exciting, he would hold interest a little longer.

Three generations of a family struggle to be open with each other during a week of summer vacation at their country cottage.