A killer has found a way to kill women without committing the crime. He gets them to fall in love with him, like Isolde falls for Tristan in the epic poem, and then he leaves them. Heartbroken they choose suicide, just like Isolde.

Apprentice hairdresser Solange is a whiz at teasing locks and cutting hair but knows little about the act of sexual congress -- but she wants to know more. She hails from a small working class town close to Toulouse where she lives with her comely mother, who grudgingly works as a babysitter, and her father, who loves herding ostriches. Her best friend in beauty school is an African immigrant lass named Gary who dreads being returned to her native country for an arranged marriage. Gary offers Solange advice in her quest. Though there is a guy Solange fancies at her vocational school, she wants to know the lay of the land, so to speak, before she gets intimate with him.

The last weekend of summer. Mother is preparing the jars for winter pickling, love-struck Françoise is practising karaoke in front of her little brother Julien. In the shed behind the house, Karim is doing some "undeclared" work, having given up on his acting dreams. In a few hours, the new canning factory, where Father works, will be inaugurated. No one is expecting Sonia, who decides to turn up that very morning.