Abel Vichac, a renowned University professor, meets a student in a bar. She claims that her name is Aurore, and that she sent him a paper on his latest book. A few days later, Vichac, who has found Aurore's paper (and her address), turns up at her apartment. This is the start of a period of misunderstanding, romantic confusion and seductive schemes that ends in a major crisis for Vichac and his wife, Aliette.