Pomme is a meek and mild French beautician whose life takes a fateful turn during a vacation to Normandy. She becomes the lover of middle-class literature-student François. The relationship sours when François takes her home to meet his parents, thanks in no small part to their differing social backgrounds.

Based on the dutch paintings of lacemakers of the same time - the film depicts a poor woman's strive for money to be able to marry her beloved; doing so by entering a local lacing competition.