Max is single, ophthalmologist, and a real mama's boy. Until she suddenly dies. Max should be devastated, yet he seems to be coping well. Too well. He actually still sees her, talks to her. She is not gone, still here, still close to her beloved baby boy. Max knows she is dead, yet he holds on to this impossible reality. Until he starts sharing his office with Ohiana, a shrink who he slowly falls in love with. Mom is not going to like it.

Hélène, a housekeeper at a ritzy hotel in Corsica, is devoted to her family but lacks any passion in her own life. When she sees a handsome couple play a passionate game of chess, she becomes inspired to play herself. Hélène's working-class husband and spoiled daughter are soon bewildered by her obsession with chess. They also grow suspicious of Hélène's close relationship with Dr. Kröger, her eccentric American expat tutor.