The setting is the Riviera in autumn. A retired English businessman (Sir Dirk Bogarde) has just been through heart surgery, but it has, apparently, done little to relieve his constant pain or improve his long-term survival prospects. During his recuperation, Caroline (Jane Birkin), his adult daughter, comes from Paris to be with him and her mother, Miche (Odette Laure), and she and her father begin to communicate as adults for the first time.