Freedom and attachment characterise the relationship between mother Paula and daughter Isabelle. Isabelle, a successful actress, lives the life her mother could not live. At the time she was expecting a child, she had abandoned her career and moved with her husband, a French colonel, to his homeland. In short: she did without and never tires of reproaching her daughter for this, directly or indirectly. She ensures that Isabelle, herself the mother of a young daughter who lives in the care of her grandparents, constantly has a guilty conscience.