A lonely and unsociable man is spying on customers in a department store in Geneva. He gets his eyes on a gorgeous creature with a musical instrument.

Two men, arty though somewhat staid, are drawn to the spirited and quixotic Rosemonde....

As he sets off for the countryside outside Geneva a taxi-driver hears a gunshot and notices a shadowy figure slipping away from the scene. So begins a series of strange incidents.

Interspersed with jokes, visual puns, and philosophical discussions, the story follows the attempts of a girl who has spent the last year living outside her native Switzerland to rekindle a former love affair. When her immature young friend fails to demonstrate the requisite interest, she takes up with someone the boy disapproves of. When the boy kicks the man, the man leaves both the boy and his erstwhile ex-girlfriend to their own devices.