Claude Miller's film, like Wim Wenders'The American Friend, is taken from a story by Patricia Highsmith. Gerard Depardieu plays David, a moody, twenty-eight year old bank clerk who's obsessed about his former sweetheart.

He lives in a small town near a lonely girl (Miou Miou) who would like to get to know him better, but he has no time for her, and at weekends goes away on the pretext of visiting his sick parents.

The girl, however, knows that his parents are dead; she works In the same office and has seen the records. David has prepared a country cottage for himself and his childhood romance, Lise, even though she is now married and has a baby. She refuses to see him when he goes to visit her, and her husband comes after him They fight, and the husband dies in an accident on his way home.

Finally, David's fantasy takes possession of him, and he traps his former sweetheart in a swimming pool. ..