There are no coincidences. Aurelie Bredin, a beautiful Parisian restaurateur, is sure of this truth. On a gloomy Friday in November, when Aurelie is feeling depressed after a breakup, she discovers a novel entitled "The Smiles of Women" in a quaint bookshop on the Ile-St.-Louis. Astonishingly, her restaurant and she herself are featured in its pages. After reading the entire book in one night, Aurelie wishes more than anything to meet the author of the novel because she is convinced that, without even realizing it, he has saved her life. However, her wish proves to be a difficult, almost impossible, endeavour. All attempts to contact the attractive but shy English author through his French publishers are blocked by the company's gruff editor-in-chief, Andre, who only with great reluctance forwards Aurelie's enthusiastic letter. But Aurelie refuses to give up. One day, a response from the reclusive author actually lands in her mail box, but the encounter that eventually takes place is completely different from what she had ever imagined.