Pauline is young and coquettish. She is also happily married to Marc and has a child. Gilles, kind and self-confident, is twenty years older and a recent divorcee. After he watches Pauline one morning, he asks to meet her. In spite of herself, Pauline agrees. Alice Ferney unfolds the next stages of the seduction in forensic detail and with devastating lucidity. As Pauline faces the possibility of an affair, she is thrown into confusion. Is she simply feeling flattered because she is desired? Is she indulging in a fantasy version of love? Or could she have truly fallen for a stranger? We also eavesdrop on the lives of the people around Pauline and Gilles, from Pauline's adoring and unsuspecting husband, to Max and Eve's disintegrating marriage, to Penelope and her relationship with a man older than her father, and Laura, who desperately wants a child. Together, their stories make up a complete picture of the changing degrees of love.